The Hybrid In Hotel Transylvania
by Emersonian
Summary: Set six months after HT2. Minerva is a half-human, half snow spirit monster who lost her parents to a hybrid-hating monster named Jack Frost. For her 20th birthday, she and her human/monster friends go with her family to Hotel Transylvania, where she meets her zing in Dracula. But how will this vacation turn out when her parents' murderer discovers she's still alive? (Dracula x OC)
1. Long Before Hotel Transylvania 2

Chapter 1: Long Before Hotel Transylvania 2

The winter was rough on the American land in the beginning of 2000. Many humans did their best to stay indoors and avoid the insane blizzard that had hit them. Even the monsters, who were still in hiding at that time, preferred to stay in a warm hiding spot unless they were already spending their winter holiday in Hotel Transylvania, far off in the titular land.

The Snow Clan, the snow spirit monsters who did not mind humans, also took the wise advice of staying indoors. All of them were part of a monster race that was playful, kind, and unafraid of humans. They usually enjoyed using their snow powers to create soft layers of snow for human children to play in and generate ice for the older humans to create lovely performances. But naturally, being human-friendly monsters, they'd never cause such a blizzard that hit the United States.

Only ice spirit monsters, their human-hating counterpart, would be willing enough to create a snow storm at the beginning of each year. It was already a miracle that humans at the end of the 20th century were so evolved, they thought the storm was just the result of nature going wild and not the act of ice spirit monsters trying to kill them.

While that mayhem was happening in the Midwest, one snow spirit in particular resided in Bianca Hills, a small town in Maryland. Like any winter season, his garden was covered in snow and his sidewalk had salt to melt the ice away. The few monsters hiding in Bianca Hills knew he was pretending to be a normal resident to fool the humans, and most of the humans who knew him just thought he was being cautious like everyone else. That particular snow spirit monster's name was Nicolas and he had managed to live for now 300 years (for humans, he looked like he could be 30).

Nicolas opened up his window and used a spyglass to observe the western part of the sky. All he could see for the moment was a pure white sky covering Bianca Hills, but as he adjusted the settings of his spyglass, he got a zoomed in view of the Midwest. Humans were lying frozen in the snow, cars got tires fractured by ice, and the wind was blowing viciously. The human authorities, 'evolved' as they were, thought that the weather was responsible for such casualties, but Nicolas knew that was wrong. His spyglass managed to show him ice spirit monsters breathing frost onto humans, generating ice shards, and creating the storms before then running off.

"Bastards," Nicolas spat. He closed the window and put his spyglass back on his desk just in time to answer his ringing phone. "Nicolas Fjordson on the line."

" _Nick, it's just me_ ," a female voice answered from the other line.

"Oh, Danae!" Nick smiled when he recognized the voice of one of his snow spirit monster cousins. "How's your vacation in Hotel Transylvania going?"

" _Very lovely as usual. The Dracula clan is as welcoming while its patriarch is human phobic._ " Danae shrugged on the other line.

"I envy you," Nicolas said.

" _Nick, I'm calling because your brother Cetus called yesterday. Is it true about Luna and Peter_?"

Nick said nothing. He briefly looked at the only framed picture he had on his wall. It was a photo of his late young sister Luna, her mortal husband Peter, and their hybrid infant. "Yes," he sniffed. "I told her that it was a bad idea to move in at her husband's home in Chicago. The ice spirit monsters are on their hunting spree... and Jack Frost managed to pick up the scent of Luna's child."

Danae gasped on the other end of the line. " _You mean Jack Frost did the deed?_ "

"You know how he despises hybrids more than he despises humans. He must have found out that there was one in Chicago and made the crime easier by killing the entire family. It was a good thing that I followed Luna to Chicago to help her with the move in, and when we all went on a ride to visit Peter's parents... I spotted Jack Frost sending small ice shards to fracture the tires of Peter's car..."

" _You managed to jump out?_ "

"Yes... and I took the baby with me. Jack Frost was so busy gloating when the car slid towards a truck carrying flammable oil and burned them all, he did not notice me flying back to Bianca Hills with my niece."

" _Bless your snowflake soul!_ " Danae said happily.

"It's not going to be easy, raising a half-human half-monster. She has to be raised equally by both sides." He sighed. "I already know I can't take her on a holiday at Hotel Transylvania."

" _Why not? Your niece is half monster._ "

"And half human. Dracula doesn't accept humans in his hotel, I highly doubt he'll accept a half-human hybrid. Besides, he's already generous enough to allow 'human-friendly' monsters like us come to his hotel for a holiday." Nicolas held the framed picture in his hands. "I do hope you're right, though. In 2019 will come the Half-Centennial Slumber, the one time where our ice spirit rivals give us a break by going into 50 years of hibernation. My niece will turn 20 on the winter solstice of that year."

" _By then, her hybrid scent will have dissolved through her maturity, and Jack Frost prefers targeting hybrids before they reach adulthood. Raise her well and once Jack Frost and the other ice spirits awaken, fifty years will have passed and they'll mistake her for a regular snow spirit._ "

"Yes." Nicolas put the picture back on the desk. "And naturally, I'll have you and the rest of our family's support?"

" _Don't be silly. Family always sticks together. For the moment, I don't know how I can contribute, but maybe you and the child could come visit us in Norway in summer._ "

"Great, we'll stay in touch." Nicolas gave his cousin Danae a small goodbye. He hung up his phone, just in time for crying to be heard from across the hallway. He turned into a gust of snowflakes that flew out into the hallway and reformed into Nicolas once he arrived inside one of the house's bedrooms. This one in particular was a nursery with blue snowflake wallpapers, a mix of human and monster toys, a small closet to hold the baby clothes, white curtains, a nightstand, and a blue crib made out of wood that was carved to look like a mass of carved snowflakes. Nicolas over the crib and picked up the few weeks old infant that had cried under her snowflake patterned bed sheets and her plush polar bear.

"My little Minerva had a bad dream?" Nicolas cradled the baby in his arms. The baby Minerva calmed down as her uncle stroke the small locks of hair she had on her small head, a physical trait she got from her mother Luna.

"It's OK, your uncle Nicholas is here," the snow spirit said reassuringly. Minerva giggled in his arms while her eyes widened eagerly. Her human father's grey eyes shined while Nicolas readjusted the snowy owl mobile on top of the crib. He put his baby niece back in the crib and grabbed the one decoration on the nightstand: the one thing he managed to salvage from Chicago other than his niece. It was a musical snow globe, with a snow spirit monster smiling and sharing a heart-shaped snowflake with a human. Nicolas turned the key five times and he shook the snow globe. The little Minerva giggled as the tiny snow fell with the musical box version of Bach's _Toccata and Fugue in D Minor_.

"Your daddy built it for your mommy after they zinged," Nicolas said with a smile as he let Minerva play with one of his fingers. "When you grow up, you'll become the loveliest hybrid ever. Monsters and humans will adore you, and among any of them, you'll find your own zing."

"Zing, zing!" Minerva squealed, causing Nicolas to get excited as he just witness his infant niece's first word.

 _Four years later, in December 2004_

Like most half-human, half-hybrid monsters, Minerva grew rapidly. She looked like an ordinary human four-year-old close to turning five, only her snow spirit monsters were developing quicker than those of a regular one. At the age of one, she created her first snow blast when she accidentally sneezed on her uncles Nicolas and Cetus (who was visiting at the time). At the age of two, she was already capable of creating more than enough unique snowflake patterns, which did catch the temporary jealousy from one of the family cousins residing in France. At the age of three, she was already able of commanding the snow to shape up into a snowman that was just as tall as her uncle's house. Right, she was in the front yard practicing ice generating for the first time ever under the watchful eye of Nicholas and Cetus (who was yet again visiting).

"Just imagine you want ice to appear under your foot," Nicolas said.

Minerva put her index fingers on her temples and tried to imagine ice on the driveway she was standing on. She just began growing a sign of frost on the stone, causing her uncles to get eager, until Minerva stopped and scowled when she saw a group of older human boys shoving a Bhutanese girl of her age into the snow. Her uncles could not predict Minerva using her powers to have snowfalls fly right at the boys and succeed her first ice generating... which was icing the boys' shoes so that they'd slide all the way down the street.

"Well she did manage to create ice," Nicolas tried to reassure Cetus. "Not out of malice."

"Hopefully those bullies landed in a pile of snow," Cetus said.

The uncles then noticed Minerva walking towards the Bhutanese girl and helping her stand up. "You OK?" She asked.

"Uh huh," the human girl nodded. She picked up her backpack. "Thanks. I saw what you did with the snow."

"You don't think I was scary?" Minerva twirled one of her blue locks in embarrassment.

"No." The human girl shook her head. "I think you're cool." She held out her hand. "I'm Priscilla, but my parents call me Prissy."

"I'm Minerva." The hybrid shook hands with the human. "But my Uncle Nicolas has humans call me Mindy."

 _Another four years later, on December 21st, 2008_

Minerva blew the candles of her birthday cakes. All the kids and parents who attended the party, a mix of humans and monsters from Bianca Hills, applauded. Even some of Minerva and Nicolas' snow spirit monster family managed to make it to the party.

"OK, we took care of the cake flavors," Nicolas said as he started slicing the three layered birthday cake covered in human blue coating and monster scream cheese snowflakes. "Chocolate and coconut half for the human guests and we checked on the possible allergies," the uncle said to the nodding human guests, "and nightshade velvet for monsters."

Everyone got excited and continued chatting while eating their respective cake slices. To think that while monsters were still hiding off in Hotel Transylvania, the monsters from Bianca Hills were having friendly social relations with their human neighbors. Even the kids got along and watched Minerva (or as they called her with her human name, Mindy) open her presents. Naturally, she loved all the presents she got from her human and monster friends.

"Cool, a baking set!" Minerva clapped when she opened Priscilla's present.

"I know how much you like cupcakes," Priscilla said.

"Here's for you." One of her monster friends said as he gave her his unwrapped present. He was a young monster called an amarok. Basically, he was close to a regular wolf, only he was albino and preferred to be human-sized rather than giant. His name was Kendrick and he was Minerva's monster best friend while Priscilla was her human best friend.

His present for Minerva was a fake white wolf fur coat. "That way you can wear it when you go visit your relatives in Norway in the summer."

"Thank you, Ken," Minerva said as she tried on the coat.

"Hey Mindy, why do you and your uncle always go to Norway in summer?" One of her human friends asked.

"Yeah, why would you spend summer vacation in the mountains when you could go to the beach?" Another human friend suggested.

"Because she'll melt under too much heat," Priscilla retorted. "Snow melts quickly when it's hot, but since Mindy is half-human, she doesn't melt that fast."

"It does hurt." Minerva nodded. "It's like getting a lot of sunburns all over your body."

"OUCH!" All of her human and monster peers yelped.

While the kids did their things, the parents were socializing with one another. "It's so nice to see Mindy being happy on her birthday," Priscilla's mother told Nicolas. "Priscilla really enjoys hanging out with her."

"Believe me, it's a pleasure," Nicolas nodded. "It's helpful for my niece to have a mix of human and monster friends."

"Do you often take her to monstrous places?" Priscilla's mother asked curiously. "I only thought about it when my husband mentioned Priscilla talking very much about what Mindy told her whenever you take her to Norway for the summer."

"She does have a point," one of the adult guests, a living Egyptian shabti monster, commented as he ate his piece of cake. "When on earth are you and the rest of the snow clan going to take her to Hotel Transylvania for a holiday? Minerva's eight now and her half-human stench is being dominated by her half-monster stench. I bet the other monsters at the hotel would easily think she's a full monster."

"Hotel Transylvania?" Priscilla's mother asked. "A hotel for monsters?"

"Yep. Count Dracula himself built it... though he and many monsters are still stuck with the old-fashioned belief that humans are going to kill them. But since his daughter is bound to soon turn 118, I'm sure he'll have to let go of his prejudice eventually."

"I'd rather not take the chance yet." Nicolas shook his head. "Besides, it's not Count Dracula that worries me but Jack Frost."

"Oh, right." Priscilla's mother gave a sympathetic look as she briefly looked at the children. Minerva was helping Priscilla put on her blindfold on for the game of pinning-the-snake-on-the-Gorgon's head.

"I mean, my relatives and I _are_ hoping to take Minerva with us to Transylvania once the Half-Centennial Slumber nears."

"It's that time of century when Jack Frost and the other ice spirit monsters go into a 50 year hibernation," the shabti monster explained to Priscilla's mother. "Usually, to celebrate their rivals leaving them alone, the Snow Clan performs from the winter solstice all the way to the middle of January at Hotel Transylvania for that time period until the ice spirits reawaken."

"So Mindy should be good by then," Priscilla's mother said positively.

"Yes," Nicolas shrugged.

 _Later in the night_

Nicolas and Cetus were just done cleaning the house once the birthday was over. All the guests went home and the two brothers went up to wash up when they saw Minerva coming down and running into them.

"Minerva, shouldn't you be in bed?" Nicolas picked up his daughter and carried her in his arms even though she was past the age.

"Uncle Nick, Uncle Cetus, I was wondering... is it bad? That I'm half human, half monster?" The small girl asked cautiously.

"No!" Nicolas hugged her and carried her downstairs.

"Yes, who gave you that idea?" Cetus asked as they sat down on the couch.

"Well... I heard you and the other parents talking. Is it because I'm a hybrid that you can't go to Transylvania anymore?"

Cetus and Nicolas looked at one another. The former gave an affirmative nod and the latter had Minerva sit between them. They went on to tell her the truth, from monsters fears of human, Dracula building the hotel as a sanctuary for monsters after humans killed his wife, and to finishing with how Nicolas narrowly managed to save Minerva as a baby when Jack Frost tried burning up the family in a car accident because he found out they had a hybrid infant.

"I always knew I was different," Minerva said upset. She looked at her uncles. "Can't I just become a full monster? That way Jack Frost wouldn't hate me and we could finally go to Transylvania with the rest of our family."

"Sweetie, I would _never_ ask you to force yourself to become something that you aren't." Nicolas hugged her. "It's just hard to change prejudices that exist since forever."

"Besides, nature's rules on blood decree that negative consequences happen when a hybrid is forced to choose one side of his or her heritage to live with permanently," Cetus added. "If you had chosen to renounce your monster blood, you'd become a full monster-hating human like the Van Hellsing people, and if you renounced on your humanity..."

"You'd be an actual monster on the inside." Nicolas sighed. "You'd lose all sense of sanity and kill whatever runs into you. You could even kill us whether we're your family or not."

Minerva pouted and leaned on her uncle Nicolas' stomach. "It's not fair."

"I'm sorry." Nicolas stroke her head. "I promise, Minerva. When you get older, you'll be a strong lady. Jack Frost won't get to you."

 _Cut to the present time, set six months after the events of HOTEL TRANSYLVANNIA 2_

Friday, December 13th. The commuting train pulled into the train station of Bianca Hills. Minerva and Priscilla, now grown-up young ladies, stepped off the train and dragged their luggage to the platform.

"Ugh!" Priscilla stretched her spine. "Finals were murder!" Her eyes scowled under her glasses when she noticed her friend was trying her hardest to remain silent while holding back a giggle. "Don't you dare!"

"I didn't say anything," Minerva said with a shrug.

"Mentally, you were thinking 'I told you so!'" Priscilla remarked as they made their way to the parking lot.

"Well, I did warn you that law school would drain the blood vessels out of your eyeballs," Minerva said, "but hey, it's a free country."

"Speaking of country, I can't wait for the trip!" Priscilla pulled out a red pamphlet from her lime green winter coat. "Can you believe that the once monsters-only hotel is now open to humans, and with the ice spirits preparing for their long beauty sleep, you finally get to go to Transylvania and your uncle is letting you bring a few friends?"

"I know, right?" Just as Minerva said that, a black minivan slid on the cold street and towards the parking lot. Minerva sighed and sprung her fist open. A big pile of snow grew from the ground and stopped the minivan close enough so that the girls could see the license plate W82MOON. Minerva was the first to walk up and knock on the driver's window. It went down and revealed a green-skinned humanoid monster, massive pink hair tied in a messy bun, and ears the size of fancy soup dishes.

"Demi, you can't drive until you get a driver's license. Let Kendrick ride."

"Told you so," a now older Kendrick whistled at Demi. The latter grunted and got off the minivan so that she could switch seats with Kendrick. Demi was another good monster friend of Minerva: they were both hybrids, but while Minerva was only 50% monster, Demi was actually half-dryad, half Troll. Technically, she was a hybrid with 100% monstrosity.

"Your train got delayed?" Kendrick asked as he opened the trunk and put the girls' luggage in there while they went to sit down inside with Minerva's other monster friend. This friend was actually tragic. He used to be a boy she and Priscilla knew in high school named Michael who died when one of their classmates accidentally set the Home Economics classroom on fire. Minerva and Priscilla had been the first one to run as fast as they could when it happened (for obvious reasons), but one of the other students who escaped accidentally locked in Michael. By the time the fire department came, Michael was dead, and three days after his funeral, he was back to life as a living skeleton monster. Struck with amnesia, he was alone and Minerva welcomed him in her group of friends. Problem was, after Kendrick told a joke, Michael ended up believing he was the skeleton of Michael Jackson.

So yeah, that was the group that drove away from the train station in a minivan. Minerva, a half human and half snow spirit monster hybrid. Kendrick, an amarok that drove the minivan. Priscilla, a regular French-Bhutanese human studying to be a lawyer. Demi, a dryad-troll hybrid monster who only acted like an airhead when she didn't have her pop music playing headphones covering her ears. And a forever sixteen-year-old skeleton who thought he was Michael Jackson and dressed in his Thriller costume while whistling the song 'Bad'.

Yep. Here comes the party.

"You guys got your luggage ready for the trip?" Minerva asked.

"Min-min, the flight isn't until 6pm," Michael stopped whistling.

"So you didn't do your luggage," Kendrick translated flatly. "Demi and I already got our suitcases ready. We brought them at your house at dawn," he told Minerva.

"Good. Prissy and I still need to double-check the stuff we brought back from college before replacing them with the essentials." Minerva caused a snowflake to appear with a carved list on it. "Winter clothes, swim gear, toiletry..."

"Law books," Priscilla pointed out.

"You bring law books on vacation?" The amarok asked the human in confusion.

"What? You never know if we might run into judiciary issues when we're off."

"I do get issues with Judy Sierra," Demi shrugged. Her friends looked at her in exasperation. Minerva shook her head and went back to her list.

"Priscilla's law books, presents for my cousins, the emergency-boredom kit... The rest, we should be good!" Minerva snapped her fingers and the snowflake list dissolved into air, causing some of the others to shiver.

Kendrick pulled in front of Minerva's uncles house and dropped her and Priscilla off. He promised to come back in time to go to the airport as soon as he and Demi helped Michael back. Since Priscilla's parents were travelling to Asia for business during the last two years, the human lawyer wannabe stayed at her hybrid best friend's home.

Minerva didn't even have to pull out her key. The door sprung open and Nicolas held his arm out. "My little snowflake is back from college!"

"I missed you too!" Minerva jumped to hug her beloved uncle. He helped the girls bring in their luggage.

"So how's law school going for you, Priscilla?" Nicolas kindly asked Priscilla.

"Eh. Mindy told me so," she shrugged. "But I'm really looking forward to the vacation. Thank you for letting me come with you to Transylvania."

"You, Minerva, and your other monster friends are going to _love_ Hotel Transylvania now that it's open to both monsters and humans." He sighed happily.

"Uncle Nicolas, did you already do our luggage?" Minerva pointed at six suitcases that were packed and stacked by the staircase.

"Yes, I thought you girls would like some peace after those exhausting finals and before our long flight to Europe."

"You're the best, Mr. Fjordson. How about I make us all some iced tea?" Priscilla suggested.

"You know us so well."

Priscilla headed to the kitchen. Meanwhile, the two relatives sat down on the couch and admired a canvas hanging on top of the fireplace. It was a collage portrait that Minerva made when she was younger. It was a perfect duplicate of the portrait of her parents her uncle had in his office, only the glitter, paint, and papers she had used shined with the light of the sun coming from the window.

"Your parents would be so proud," Nicolas said. He stroke his niece's hair; Minerva had her mother's striking light blue hair with curls growing at the tips, only hers was cut an inch or two past the shoulders. The feminine features and snow spirit monster powers were passed on, only Minerva had grown more prodigious in low levels. As for the father, Peter, he had passed on his gray eyes and the human compassion he had towards all beings.

"I still wish they were here," Minerva smiled sadly at the picture. For a moment, she played with her fingers and snow appeared to create small moving depictions of Luna and Peter.

"You might not have there, but the fact that you are here means they can rest in peace," Nicolas said as Minerva's brief sadness caused the mini people to disappear and cause another brief chill in the living room. "Your birthday is next week and you'll finally be free from the threat of Jack Frost."

"Until I'm 70," Minerva pointed out. Nicolas briefly glared at her. "Sorry."

"I'm just as excited as you are about performing in front of the other monsters with the rest of the family in Transylvania and to finally show off your talents," he said as he held her in the hands, "but please promise that you're going to hold back any desire to do big magic. The ice spirits and Jack Frost might be busy preparing for their hibernation, but a powerful mass of snow magic could alert them of something suspicious."

"I thought you threw them off by making sure they didn't pick up my half-human scent," Minerva frowned. Her uncle glared at her again. "OK, OK. I promise I won't use any powerful snow magic."

"Just for a week," Nicolas said reassuringly. "Once sunset has passed on the winter solstice, you'll get to release as much magic as you want!" He turned into a gust of snowflakes and dragged his niece into a playful dance that made her laugh. "You'll get to do perform with the rest of your family every year, and if we're lucky enough, you'll find your zing and I'll get grandnephews or grandnieces!"

"Again with the stories of zing," Priscilla rolled her eyes as she came in from the kitchen carrying a tray bearing three glasses of iced tea. Nicolas turned back into flesh to take a glass while Priscilla continued speaking and put the tray on the coffee table. "You know, scientists have never actually managed to confirm the existence of the 'love at first sight' theories."

Nicolas scoffed. "Pff! _Human_ science!" He held up his hand at the portrait. "You think Minerva's parents married and had her because of human science? Nope! All monsters get the chance to find their zing, the one person they'll spend eternity with for the rest of their lives. It can also happen to humans if they zing with monsters. That's what happened with my sister Luna. She was Minerva's age when she traveled to the United States to study art and ran into Peter. When they looked at one another and saw a purple glow in their eyes..."

"Eh." Priscilla drank her iced tea. "Still don't believe it."

Minerva sighed with a smile and shook her head in amused exasperation when her uncle and her human best friend began going into one of their science vs monstrosity opinions. She drank her iced tea and wondered how this vacation would turn out.


	2. Season's Preparations And Snow Flights

Chapter 2: Season's Preparations And Snow Flights

While Minerva was still in Bianca Hills preparing for her vacation, the sun was setting in Transylvania. The coffin in a certain dark chamber popped its lid open and Dracula yawned in tired annoyance. He wasted no time and took less than five seconds to wash up and change into his regular black uniform and cape. His icy blue eyes darted around the room, from his late wife's portrait to the black curtains moving from the cold breeze coming into his cold room from the cold outside world.

 _Who am I kidding_? He thought miserably. _I'm always in this mood at that time of year. Even with my family around, I still feel lonely._

He regained his composure and made his way down the halls. The staff was busy hanging up the decorations for the winter season around the hotel. Spiderweb tinsels hung from the top of the walls, the doorknob voodoo heads shouted 'Do Not Disturb' in a twisted 'Jingle Bells' fashion, living wreaths were placed on the doors, and witches were placing mistletoes on the chandeliers or anything that could be on top of your head. As he got to the lobby, most of the human and monster gets were distracted by the enchanted armors succeeding in putting up a tall tree ten feet away from the fireplace. Applause came for the success.

"Housekeeping!" Dracula summoned the witches to clean up the snow the tree had dragged in on the way. He felt a small tugging and smiled down to see his grandson pulling on his cape.

"Look, Papa Drac!" Dennis showed a painted paper mache Christmas ornament shaped like a bat. "I made it!"

"Aren't you adorable? Why don't you put it on the tree, Denisovich?" Dracula said nicely. The small dhampyr giggled and turned into a bat so that he could hang his ornament on a high branch. Some of the witches on broomsticks made room for him while they put up the decorations on the tree as well.

"What's up with Drac?" Johnny asked Frankie while the two were on the other side of the lobby watching the scene. "Even Mavis doesn't know why he's so moody."

"Don't you know?" Frankie frowned. "It was around that time of year when Drac proposed to Martha... and it was also on a December that she got killed. Drac tends to be moody when it's winter."

"Bummer," Johnny grimaced.

"Hopefully he'll cheer up this time," Frankie said hopefully. "Me and the other guys have been trying to encourage Drac to meet someone new. Plus, it's that time of century when the snow spirit monsters gather to perform for the next fifty years until the ice spirits get out of hibernation. He always smiles when they're around."

Grossed out expressions came around the lobby when twelve zombie employees came in dragging large yellow barrels. Judging by how even Bigfoot fainted and the zombies were wearing gas masks, Johnny didn't want to imagine what on earth he just smelled.

"Is the olfaction shield spread around the perimeter?" Dracula asked the zombies, who groaned for a yes. "Good. Now clean up the mess. I'll check the shield later."

"Olfaction shield?" Johnny asked as he and Frankie joined Dracula.

"To cloak any scent that might give the ice spirit monsters any bad ideas," Dracula said.

"Oh, that's right! Their leader Jack Frost completely hates half-human, half-monster hybrids," Frankie said uneasily. "You had the zombies put up a shield made of the foulest odors that would repel the ice spirits so they don't get to Dennis."

"Yes that, but for some reason one of the leaders of the snow spirit clan begged me to double dose on the shield. That's why I had Wayne fill me a dozen of these barrels with his kids' urine... along with..."

"DON'T!" Frankie and Johnny begged to not know.

Dracula shrugged while in the background, the zombies threw the barrels into the bottomless catacombs. A witch came in carrying a letter for Dracula. The count used his magic to open it before reading it. "Ah, good!"

"What is it, Drac?" Frankie asked.

"I've invited the snow spirit clan to dine with my family once they're all gathered tomorrow night," Dracula smiled at the letter. "How does that sound to you, Johnny? Your family _is_ coming over later to spend their winter holiday at the hotel."

"Dude, my nephews have been dying for snow," Johnny smirked. "It's going to be a blast."

"Are you sure it's a good idea, Drac?" Frankie asked worriedly. "I mean, compared to you, Mavis, Dennis, and Johnny's family, the snow spirit clan is quite massive. The number of kids in that family are second to Wayne and Wanda's!"

"It will be fine," Dracula brushed it off. "Besides, the snow spirits are bringing in a new relative from America for her first time in Hotel Transylvania. I'm only doing my job in welcoming them for their special time here."

Once again, the Phantom of the Opera annoyed them by playing on the organ nearby.

Erik: _Oh, how the Prince of Darkness has cried!_

 _Will he ever find his next one true bride?_

"Why do we never put duck tape on him?" Dracula scowled.

 _Hours later_

The group was now midway during their flight from the US to Romania. As it was an eleven hours long flight and they wanted to make sure they were in shape when they arrived, Kendrick, Michael, Demi, and Priscilla mostly slept. Minerva, on the other hand, didn't have either the energy to fall asleep or the urge to stay awake. It was occasionally due to her hybrid metabolism: her monster blood was best oriented at night whereas her human blood was best active during the day. She didn't have that much trouble when she was younger, but as an adult, she still had her difficulties. Sometimes she'd try to sleep, only to wake up and move around, then fail to go to sleep. At least she handled all-nighters better than most humans.

Her uncle Nicolas, who sat next to her on the plane, patted her on her blue hair braided in a neat French braid. She groaned and looked at him.

"How about a snow flight?" Nicolas suggested.

A smile immediately appeared on Minerva's face. The two relatives got up from their seats and squeezed into the nearest plane bathroom. Once Nicolas locked the door, uncle and niece crossed their arms like Egyptian mummies and inhaled deeply. When they exhaled, their bodies dissolved into cold hair that phased through the plane shells and made its way out in the open air. Nicolas and Minerva reformed and stood on the plane wings, balancing themselves so that they could be even with the winds.

"Ready?" Nicolas said.

"Always." Minerva nodded.

They ran and jumped off the wing. For the fun of it, they let gravity drag them towards the earth. The winds whistled through their ears and they made cloud angels while plummeting towards the ocean until they turned into gusts of snowflakes. Minerva and Nicolas began doing a race while causing giant cold ripples on the waves.

Minerva turned back into physical form and began skating on the surface of the water, leaving a trail of ice behind her. Nicolas followed her tactic, and soon, they were skating on the ocean and creating a series of icy 8s on the water. Some birds flying in the sky actually bothered to fly down and rest on the new 'landmass' made of ice.

"You've been improving!" Nicolas praised.

"I can do better!" Minerva laughed. She jumped off the ocean's surface and turned into a gust of snowflakes that rocketed her way towards the clouds She flew around the clouds, playing with the cold air in them to literally shape the clouds to look like puffy snowflakes.

"Oh, it is on!" Nicolas laughed. He changed as well and flew to do a battle of changing-the-cloud-shapes with his niece. He challenged her by creating a snowman-shaped cloud. She scoffed and spun a cloud, turning it into a Pegasus. The talent battle went on for a good ten minutes until Nicolas decided that they should take a break and went to sit down on top of the plane (please note that they highly advise humans against it).

Nicolas and Minerva laughed at the fun they just had while Minerva readjusted the loose hair strands back in her braid.

"I used to love playing that game with your mother and Uncle Cetus when we were small," Nicolas said.

"I know, you tell me that everytime we took the plane to see our relatives in Norway," Minerva said. "I still remember the story of how you three were flying near a random plane, Mom rocketed from the top of the plane and waited until she was nearly out of the planet's orbit to crash back down in a big snow blast."

"Yeah, too bad we realized later on that we accidentally cause Amelia Earhart to crash and your mother's snow blast to Earth caused some human astronomers to think she was the comet C/1937 N1."

Minerva looked at the horizon full of stars and bluish clouds that reigned above the sea. The hybrid sighed as she noticed the dark blue hue of the planet's dome tip. "Maybe once the ice spirits go to sleep for the next fifty years, I could pull Mom's stunt."

"I bet you can," Nicolas patted her on the back. "She'd be seeing you anyway. When snow spirits die, their remains fly up into the sky and turn into stars. Remember when you kept telling me you saw Luna's face in the sky whenever the stars were out? It's her up there, watching over you."

"How old was she again?" Minerva asked. "When she died?"

"A hundred and five years old," Nicolas said. "As you know, monsters tend to live younger than humans... if they make sure to avoid the lethal factors. We and the rest of our snow spirit monster clan were born with immortality and youth. As long as heat doesn't melt us off, we can live as many years that you can't imagine."

"But I'm half-human," Minerva frowned.

"Well, you have higher chances of living longer than most humans and only extreme levels of heat can melt you off. I guess in a way, you can live as long as eternity allows you... that is, unless you vacation to the Sahara Desert."

"Oh, ha, ha," Minerva said with a laugh.

They went back inside the plane after they noticed a passenger fainting when he saw them flying.

 _Hours later_

They had arrived at the Târgu Mureș Airport in Transylvania and were currently waiting at the sitting area near the exit until the hearse transport could come pick them up and take them to the hotel.

"It...it... it's cold here!" Priscilla shivered. She and Demi had wrapped in wool sweaters and thick winter coats to keep themselves warm, but even inside an airport with an AC, they still shivered. It didn't help that Michael was also shivering his bones to the point that they sounded like rattling.

"Grow a spine," Kendrick rolled his eyes as he flipped through a Hotel Transylvania pamphlet. "You're from Bhutan, it has continental climate as close to Romania. Try going to the Arctic for a change, and then you'll see what's really cold."

So far, Kendrick, Minerva, and Nicolas were the only ones who didn't seem to be bothered by the cold, as the three had monster genetics related to winter. Besides, Kendrick had his albino fur to keep him warm while Nicolas and Minerva wore winter clothes that only seemed to have a thin layer of fabric that you'd only find on spring clothing and they didn't even wear gloves.

It was nearly close to noon when the Hotel Transylvania hearse finally came to the airport to collect the travelers. While the jack-o-lantern driver helped Nicolas load the luggage into the back of the hearse, Minerva and her friends made their seating inside the vehicle. Once the hearse drove its way from the airport, they began to talk about what they might do at the hotel.

"Monster badminton, spa service, and ooh! First time doing tango classes!" Minerva read through the pamphlet.

"Tango! Me like!" Michael said. He jumped on his seat and began doing the Thriller dance, much to his friend's annoyance.

"Library, bingo, and restaurant with brand new chef..." Priscilla leaned over to see Minerva's pamphlet. "Hey, look! They even mention the snow spirits' performance to celebrate the fact that the ice spirits are doing their long beauty sleep."

Nicolas' phone beeped. He opened it and read the text he just got. "Big news, Minerva. Apparently, our family has been invited to dine with Count Dracula and his family tonight. We'd better be on our best behavior."

"Yeah, try not to faint when you see him, Mindy," Kendrick teased. "I heard he's irresistible."

"Ha, ha," Minerva said sarcastically. "As if I would fall for the clichés of girl-having-a-type-for-vampires-and-werewolves!"

"Good thing I stick with contraception ever since my first and last date with Priscilla went wrong," Kendrick remarked.

"Hey!" Priscilla protested.

Something cracked on the front window. The passengers turned to see the jack-o-lantern driver faint on the steering wheel while a tiny insect flew away through a small whole on the window.

"Steep hill!" Nicolas yelped when he noticed that the hearse without the conscious driver was heading downwards on the road. "Minerva, help me slow down the wheels while Kendrick takes over the driving!"

"Isn't it a bad idea for snow and road to mix?" Minerva asked as she followed her uncle. He pushed the door open and looked ahead while dealing with the wind blowing on his face. He held out his hand focused on creating a wall of snow. Hopefully it would stop the vehicle from falling off the road and down hundreds of feet unless Kendrick could gain control of the wheel. Minerva caught up to what her uncle intended and held her hand out into the open as well. She added reinforcement to the snow wall, trying to make it at least six to eight feet thick.

Meanwhile, Demi and Priscilla dragged the driver off his seat and Kendrick jumped to switch place. He got hold of the steering wheel and used the gearshift to slow down. He managed to stop the hearse right before it could hit the wall of snow.

"That was close," he whistled.

"OK, drive slowly," Nicolas said as he and Minerva got back inside the hearse. "Last thing we want is to fall off the road."

"Got it." Kendrick put the gas back on and followed the road. With what just happened, he used the speed limit that most humans used to drive in peculiarly risky areas.

Michael checked the pulse of the driver. "He's still alive, but he's got a bad fever. It looks like he got the bug bite on his forehead." He pointed at an orange-ranged red bug bite that was swelling on the pumpkin forehead. The bite was almost as big as a thumb.

"But bug's don't fly around in winter," Priscilla said.

Minerva looked at her uncle. "You don't suppose Jack Frost..."

"Nah," Nicolas shook his head. "Jack Frost wouldn't use something like a monster bug to do his dirty work. Usually he'd go with unpredictable ice... like the one he used on your parents."

Minerva tensed at the reference of her parents' death, resulting in the air getting colder in the hearse and ice beginning to grow on her seat. "Minerva, I did not mean it!" Nicolas said.

"I know," Minerva sighed deeply. The air warmed back to its regular temperature and the ice vanished. It was yet another one of her occasional problems as a hybrid: blunt mentions of how Jack Frost mercilessly burned her parents to a crisp in the family car caused her snow spirit monster powers to react negatively. Nicolas and some others among their monster family had expressed concerns that for a member of a snow spirit monster clan, she almost had the same anger as an ice spirit monster.

"Remember, no big snow magic until the sunset on the winter solstice," Nicolas reminded his niece. "And try to hold down your anger. I don't want the hotel staff to mistake you for an ice spirit monster and kick you out."

"Did it ever happen?" Demi asked cautiously.

"Yeah, she lost it when one of her pre-teen cousins bluntly talked about the tragedy, Minerva's freakout scared them more than the story."

"Let's stop talking about it," Kendrick said. He made a right turn deeper into the forest. "I can see the hotel rising from the lake. Hopefully we can find our rooms and relax before the family gathering."

 _Hours later, after sunset_

Dracula checked that the large ballroom was ready for the dinner. Since the entire snow clan was going to dine with the Draculas and Loughrans, the vampire had decided to use the ballroom to hold all the guests. Five rectangular tables were lined up together and covered by a tablecloth made out of spiderweb-designed lace. White utensils, clear plates, and blue crystal cups were placed in front of each plate. A red vase holding white roses and winter vines decorated the center of the table.

He rechecked the printed name papers resting on each plate. Dracula had to admit that he was glad his hotel's new chef wasn't as barbaric as the previous one, Quasimodo. He was very detailed on discussing with Dracula on what dishes to serve for the guests, since they were dealing with a mix of humans and monsters, warm and cold, and who knew what the hybrid grandson of Dracula would eat on this season now that his fangs were out.

 _At least his cousins won't be annoying him_. Dracula recalled how Dennis had been made fun of by his human cousins around his birthday before his fangs came out.

He went through the placed named papers for the snow spirit monster guests. Most of them, he knew. The snow clan had a habit of giving their members names based on Roman figures. For many decades to centuries, he had known members like Janus, Juno, Cetus, Nicolas, Caesar, Jupiter, Pluto, Luna, and so on. Almost has many winters as he could remember, he had seen the snow clan expand in members, such as Juno giving birth to a pair of twins every year.

For a moment, Dracula noticed that the name 'Luna' did not appear on the printed names. This caused him to frown. That snow spirit had been the same age as Mavis and the two used to play together whenever Luna and her brothers Cetus and Nicolas came to visit the hotel on holidays. But since snow spirit monsters matured much faster than young vampires, Luna had begun to look like a human in her twenties by the time Mavis reached her 100th birthday. Then a few years later, Luna stopped coming to the hotel for good. When Mavis and Dracula had tried asking, none in Luna's family dared to answer.

Dracula was close to making a whole turn of the table until he noticed the last two chairs at the end of the table closest to the stage. There was his (evidently), and on his chair's right side was a chair with a printed paper on it.

 _Minerva._

"Must be one of the American relatives," he commented to himself. Then again, for a snow spirit monster named after the Roman goddess of wisdom, he couldn't imagine the worst.

He checked the ballroom's clock. _Great. I have to get Mavis and the others for the dinner so that we can welcome the guests_.

He flew up to catch an elevator, but seeing that it was currently undergoing repairs, he stuck to flying up the stairs. Since his family primarily lived on the third floor, it shouldn't be a problem for him.

"... can't believe that I have to walk up the stairs with that elevator broken!" An incoming voice grumbled.

"WATCH OUT!" Dracula shouted.

Too late, he crash-landed onto the incoming young lady and they fell on the steps. He sat up and rubbed his temples in pain.

"I'm so sorry!" The young lady exclaimed. "I hope you weren't hurt!"

"No, no, I'm..."

Dracula looked up and immediately lost his tongue.


	3. Zing and Dinner

Chapter 3: Zing and Dinner

Dracula and the young lady had been staring for at least a whole minute. Her grey eyes and his blue ones were locked into one another, they failed to notice the purple glow in their eyes flashing in the speed of a bolt.

"Are you alright?" The young lady helped him get up from their current situation. Her hands pulling him up did not help the fluttering bats Dracula was feeling in his stomach, his heart inexplicably beating in his undead body, and his eyes reflecting the divinity of the creature. The light blue curled hair tied in a French braid that kissed the long-sleeved blue off-shoulder top she was wearing, her peach skin, her black leggings and blue shoes, and her magnificent grey eyes... He was so dazzled by her, he couldn't even tell if she was a human or the loveliest monster ever.

"Edubida shula ekubide?" The goofiest smile appeared on his face as he uttered complete gibberish.

The young lady frowned in confusion. "Uh... OK." She looked up at the flight of stairs that awaited her. " _Wait a minute!_ Why am I walking up the stairs with my last suitcase when I can just fly?" The young lady turned into a gust of snowflakes, startling Dracula as she grabbed her suitcase with her snowflakes and flew up the stairs.

"A snow spirit monster," Dracula kept smiling and still felt his heart bumping. He transformed into a bat and flew up to catch up to the snow spirit monster. He passed the third floor, forgetting that he was supposed to join his family there, and traced the gust of snow to the sixth floor. His small bat self blushed immediately when he realized that the young lady's hotel room was actually three doors away from him.

"Papa Drac! Papa Drac!"

Dracula gulped when he noticed his grandson flying from the other direction, calling out for him. He stayed hidden for a moment, but he chose to turn back to normal when he saw Dennis turning into normal to tug the young lady's shirt and get her attention before she could unlock the door.

"Oh, hello," she smiled at Dennis.

"Hi. Have you seen my Papa Drac? Mommy told me to get him," Dennis said.

"I haven't seen your papa, sweetie." The young lady leaned down and ruffled Dennis' curls, making the child laugh. "Maybe he's downstairs in the lobby? With the elevator under repair, he might be delayed and took the stairs."

"No, Papa Drac can fly..."

 _Maybe I should step in_ , Dracula thought. He did just that and stepped out into the carpeted floor.

"Papa Drac!" Dennis turned into a bat and flew just in time to turn into a little boy hugging the vampire in the latter's arms.

"Dennisovitch, you little nightmare!" Dracula smiled at Dennis. "Shouldn't you be preparing for dinner? We're having many guests over, you know?"

Dennis giggled.

"Aw, the little sweetie of butterballs is your grandson?" The young lady leaned over and flicked her fingers. Small snowflakes appeared to shape out a bat flying around Dennis. He giggled and turned into a bat to fly after the snowflake creation. The transformation stunned the blue-haired woman. "I never met a redheaded vampire like Butterballs here."

"Yes, he got his fangs just six months ago," Dracula admitted. "I must admit, I was worried if whether or not they'd show up since he's half-human."

"Well I guess it explains... WAIT, WHAT?" The young lady's grey eyes widened like saucers and she looked back at Dennis flying. "He's a hybrid too?"

"What do you mean, 'a hybrid too'?" Dracula frowned.

"Take a hint." The young lady tapped a finger underneath her right eye. Dracula frowned at first, not sure what she was referring to, until he had a better look and saw what she meant. Her grey eyes did not have the hostile, cold feeling and thin pupils that monsters with grey eyes had. Hers looked smooth, clearly gleaming with intelligence and kindness, and had solid round pupils.

Her eyes were human.

"Now I see why the snow clan leaders have requested the doubling of the olfaction shield," he said. He looked up at Dennis, who had landed on the snowflake bat and caused it to explode into nothing on the ceiling. "Dennisovitch, can you go get ready and let Mommy know that I will join them in a bit?"

"Yes, Papa Drac!" Dennis flew down the hall and out of sight.

"I'm going to guess right away that 'Dennisovitch' is the kid's monster name and 'Dennis' is his human name," the young lady guessed with a smile pursed on her face. "Who's his monster parent?"

"His mother."

"Oh, just like me!" This caused the young lady to get even happier. "I mean, in the sense that my mother was the monster parent and my father the human one."

"Was?" Dracula asked. He realized that he shouldn't have asked when he noticed the woman getting sad. "Jack Frost murdered them. I'm terribly sorry."

"Don't be," she shrugged. "I'm used to it."

"Quite the understatement, I can relate. My wife Martha died many years when my daughter was still an infant vampire."

The hybrid woman nodded with a small understanding smile.

"Forgive me for not introducing myself." Dracula elegantly kissed the maiden's hand, causing her to blush. "I am the hotel manager and owner, Count Vladimir Dracula. Or 'Drac' for short."

" _The_ Dracula?" The hybrid asked. "I did not see that coming."

"Yes, I know. But I do not say 'blah, blah, blah'!" He said firmly.

"I highly doubt you'd say that," the maiden chuckled. "You already sound dreadful just by saying you don't say it."

"Thank you." Dracula said in relief. "And you are?"

"Oh, I'm..."

The hybrid got cut off when her hotel room's door opened and a dark-skinned human in nerdy glasses poked her head out. "Hey, Mindy! Have you seen the room service deals menu for breakfast? I'm having a hard time understanding the concept of their 'dragon egg omelet.'"

'Mindy' lifted her suitcase and threw it at the human, causing the latter to crash back into the room. "Excuse me," the former apologized to Dracula. She turned into a snowflake gust that flew into the room and slammed the door behind her. Dracula blinked in confusion before happily shrugging and teleporting back to his room to double-check his attire for dinner.

 _Meanwhile, in Minerva and Priscilla's room_

"What the Hell was that for?" Priscilla put aside the suitcase that had landed on her stomach and got up to check the room's mirror so that she could readjust her glasses. She turned to look at her best friend, who was leaning on the door in human form and occasionally peaking at the keyhole to make sure that nobody in the hallway was listening. "Mindy, are you OK?"

"Prissy, don't freak out..." Minerva checked the keyhole again. "I just met Dracula."

"The vampire that runs the hotel and whose family is supposed to have dinner with yours?" Priscilla frowned before checking her wristwatch. "In like, twenty minutes."

"Great snowballs, I forgot!" Minerva tossed her suitcases on her bed and flipped them open to go through the clothes she had brought. "C'mon, I got to have a decent outfit in there!"

"Last time I checked, you denied being the type of girl that drops for the cliché of girls wanting to date a vampire," Priscilla frowned as she sat down on her own bed.

"OK, first off, I never said I was into him." Minerva paused in her scavenging. "I just happened to have run into him for the second time before you popped your head out."

"Second time? We barely just arrived at the hotel and he apparently wakes up after sunset. How on earth did you manage to run into him twice?"

"Well first time, I bumped into him while I was dragging my last suitcase up since the elevator broke down. He spoke gibberish, I then flew up to our room, I ran into his grandson, he showed up, his grandson began chasing one of my snowflake creations, we have a brief talk after we realized that his grandson and I were both hybrids with human fathers and monster mothers, he then kissed my hand and introduced himself..." Minerva blushed while she rubbed on the hand Dracula had placed on. "And I don't know what led me to throwing a suitcase on you. I'm sorry. What kind of friend am I?"

"The kind that still needs to pick her outfit?" Priscilla suggested. Minerva yelped and went back to throwing stuff out of her suitcase. "So if you're not falling for the cliché, I guess it means that Dracula got entranced by you." She clapped her hands. "Bravo!" Priscilla stopped her dry clapping when Minerva slapped her suitcase shut roughly, causing ice to appear on the buckles.

Minerva took a deep breath and calmed down. "Prissy, I know you and Kendrick had a bad failed attempt to pursue a relationship, but don't start judging me! Besides, Dracula is a widower vampire. Even if he was developing an interest in me, I highly doubt he'd want to break his loyalty to his late wife. Uncle Nicolas and Uncle Cetus do say he's a bit old-fashioned."

"I didn't mean to upset you," Priscilla got off her bed and went to give Minerva a hug. "I do worry for you, you know?"

"I do." Minerva sighed.

"Sure, me and Kendrick didn't work out, but it has nothing to do with you. I'm your best friend for your human side, can't I have the right to worry?"

An unexpected knock came from the other side of the door. "My little snowflake? Are you ready?"

"It's Uncle Nicolas! I got nothing!" Minerva hissed.

"Wait! Didn't you say you were bringing that royal blue cocktail dress?" Priscilla asked.

"The one I got for that lecture on lawsuits you tricked me into coming as a plus one?" Minerva went through her suitcase and pulled out the royal blue knee-length dress with off-shoulder straps. A gust of snowflakes appeared from underneath the door and formed into Uncle Nicolas, startling the girls.

"Uncle!" Minerva took a deep breath. "We talked about this!"

"I'm sorry, you weren't answering the door." Uncle Nicolas looked up and down at the dress Minerva was holding out. "Is that what you are planning on wearing for our family's dinner with the Draculas?"

Minerva groaned in embarrassment.

"Well to be fair, Mr. Fjordson, since the announcement of that event was sort of last minute, Mindy had no idea of knowing," Priscilla said in defense. "If she had known maybe a week in advance..."

"I see your point." Nicolas nodded. "I should have thought about it as well." He pressed his hands on his lips and blew a small wind of snow at Minerva. Her dress changed, though retaining the color, into a formal jumpsuit with flounce sleeves. He used his magic to bring forth the black plump shoes his niece had brought on the trip and he placed them before her so that she could put them on.

"It's missing something," he said with a small frown. Minerva rolled her eyes in amusement and pulled up her suit's collar. It turned white and formed into a high collar designed like a snowflake. The motif also appeared at the ends of her sleeves, formed a belt around her waist, and wrapped itself onto her heels. "That's my girl." He pulled a small box out of his fancy winter blue suit and popped it open before his niece.

"Is that..." She gasped.

"Your mother's hair clip. She wore it when she was your age." Nicolas used his magic to unravel Minerva's braid into a cleaner version of her natural curled tips and pulled back the right side of her blue locks so that he could clamp in the hair clip of snowflakes and frost vines made out of moonstones and crystals.

"You guys now look perfect," Priscilla said with a smile. "I hope you have fun at the dinner."

"What are you planning on doing?" Minerva asked curiously while her uncle opened the door. "I mean, until you and I get to our monster mani-pedi at the hotel spa later on in the evening?"

"I think I'm just going to relax and read my law-and-fiction crossover books." Priscilla grabbed her collection of LAW AND FICTION, a fiction book series she enjoyed reading about a lawyer who was, well, a lawyer by day, and at night a 'super-lawyer' who brought justice against evildoers... with judiciary power.

"O...K." Sometimes Minerva had a hard time understanding her best friend's passion with law. "See you later."

 _Minutes later, at the ballroom for the dinner_

Johnny's family, Mavis, Dennis, and Vlad were just settling into their respective seats at the large table when Dracula opened the door to welcome in the entire snow clan. As stated before, there was an enormous amount of relatives. Linda and Mike, Johnny's parents, seemed rather surprised at the sight of all the snow spirit monsters dressed in snowflake or winter-based clothing that went from modern clothing to rather ancient like Victorian, medieval, or other traditional clothing based on the country from where each relative lived. Johnny's sister did seem interested in the diverse hair colors of the relatives, which ranged from light blue to snow white depending on the ages, though some of the female snow clan members that appeared to be her age reassured her that her natural red hair worked for her.

Connor, Troy, and Parker actually seemed nervous at the sight of all the young members that looked like they could be their age or up to late teen years. Some looked friendly, like a few little snow clan boys who tried to engage Dennis in a playful snow fight, but then there were some who played pranks by sending Troy a cold. Literally.

Dracula kept track of each relative that came in. So far, there was no sign of the lovely hybrid he had met earlier. To think he had put on his best black cape!

More relatives came in. This time, it was the 'pack' of Aunt Juno, the snow clan member who appeared to be cursed or blessed by giving birth to a pair of twins every year. She had a mix of identical or fraternal twins that went from reserved thirty-years-old to spoiled toddlers.

"Reel it in, you're supposed to make _me_ miserable!" Venus complained. Venus was Juno's thirteen-year-old daughter and so far the only one who didn't appear to be born with a twin. She was so far the only one of Juno's kids who dressed up like a black-and-white punk with white hair and eyebrow piercings. Dubbed 'the black sheep of the family'.

"Janus, my old, cold friend!" Vlad got up when he saw the eldest of the snow clan being pushed in a wheelchair by one of the other members, Danae. "Last time I saw you, you were still gleaming brighter than the North Star in February!"

"It's only been six centuries or eight!" Janus tilted his head left and right, losing his teeth in the process. Danae grunted as she put on some plastic gloves and put his teeth back in his mouth before helping him sit right next to Linda, making the latter feel awkward.

"Hi, Father," Cetus placed a small kiss on Janus' head.

"Cetus, Cetus, where's Nicolas? Where's my second son?" Janus asked.

The mention of Nicolas caused many of the young children from the snow clan to desperately hug Cetus' leg. "Uncle Cetus! Uncle Cetus! Is Uncle Nicolas bringing Cousin Minerva? Is he? Is he? IS HE?" Their begging got worse as they tightened their hugs on his legs. If Mike and Johnny hadn't helped, Cetus would have fallen like the leaning tower of Pisa.

"Hooray, Mutt Flakes is coming over," Venus said drily as she took her seat. The snow clan gasped in disapproving scowls. Her mother, being a snow spirit monster from Mexico, grabbed one of her laced boots and slapped Venus on the face. Mavis and her human-in-laws looked shocked. Dracula said nothing.

"At least your _Prima_ Minerva isn't a late winter blossom like you!" Juno snapped and put her boot back on.

"Juno, not now," Cetus shook his head.

Mavis frowned at the scenario. Since Linda was getting uncomfortable sitting next to Grandpa Janus, she and Mavis switched seats. Danae was helping Janus find his way with the utensils when Mavis tapped her shoulder.

"What's a late winter blossom?" She asked cautiously without getting too much attention from others.

"You know how vampires are called 'late-fangers' when their fangs show later than they normally should?" Danae asked. "For snow spirit monsters, we say 'late winter blossom' when the monster reached tardiness at developing his powers." She cautiously tilted her head towards Venus, who was scowling at her long list of twin-paired siblings. "Venus is a late winter blossom because she only managed to develop her powers when she was eight when most of us managed to get ours when we were five. First we thought it was because she's the only one among Juno's children to not have a twin."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Mavis frowned.

"All of her old and young siblings are a set of twins and each of them got their powers at convenient times while Venus was a bit late," Danae told Mavis. "So you know, that was our theory... but then with Minerva..." Danae scratched the back of her head nervously. "She's a little bit different."

"Oh, my granddaughter Minerva is such a prodigy! She's just like her mother, Luna!" Janus said so loudly.

"Luna?" Mavis asked with a smile rising on her face.

"Wasn't Luna your playmate many decades ago?" Dracula asked, his eyes not leaving the door.

"Yeah, but we lost touch since I was 100 years old," Mavis said. "How is she?"

Most of the snow clan members chuckled nervously.

"Funny story," Cetus said with an awkward smile and tapped his fingers nervously. He got saved by the door's opening. The last two members of the clan arrived inside.

"Lord Nicolas," Dracula greeted the snow spirit monster dressed in a winter blue tuxedo.

"Long time no see, Count," Nicolas bowed before the vampire. He placed a hand on the shoulder of the female relative he was accompanied with. "I believe you remember my late sister Luna. This here is her daughter, my niece Minerva."

Dracula bit his fangs to avoid stuttering yet again at the hybrid maiden he had encountered earlier. _An even lovelier name,_ he thought when he repeated the name 'Minerva' in his head.

The snow spirit monster children, at their parents' disapproval, ran in a masse bigger than Wayne's own pups to say hello to their hybrid cousin. Dracula moved out of the way and flew to sit down at his seat.

"Yes, so nice to see you again," Minerva went through her small cousins by hugs before then getting a series of handshakes and greetings from her other relatives. "Hi, Grandpa Janus." Minerva hugged Janus.

"Still the walking caricature of Luna!" Janus patted Minerva's hand before she went to find her seat. "Though with Peter's eyes."

"Peter?" Mavis asked. Since she was busy with the question, she did not notice her father using his magic to slightly move Minerva's chair so that she could sit down.

"I saw that," Minerva winked at Dracula as she pulled her seat toward the table. The vampire king gave an awkward grin, which Nicolas managed to spot as he was sitting next to his niece.

"Who's Peter?" Mavis asked again. No one got the chance to answer as the doors reopened yet again. It was some kind of safe- designed metal cart pulled by a small donkey dressed like a servant. "OK, MAKE ROOM FOR DINNER!" Somebody was leaning on the top of the cart and shouting with a megaphone. "WE GOT A WHOLE MENU GUARANTTED FOR VAMPIRES, HUMANS, HYBRIDS, AND SNOW SPIRIT MONSTERS!"

The new chef that Dracula had hired jumped of the cart. He was a heather-skinned Bergen with mauve-and-purple hair and his yellow eyes blinked to make his red irises stand out. He took his small chef hat off his head and shook it, causing a small ball of rainbow to bounce on the floor and grow into a Troll in a waitress outfit doing the pose. The guests applauded at the scenario.

"Epic presentation as usual, Dårlig and Feige," Dracula told the hotel's new chef and the sous-chef.

"A pleasure, your Countship!" Dårlig clapped his hands and addressed the guests. "Any questions before we start serving beverages?"

Johnny raised his hand cautiously. "Your menu doesn't consist of human meat, does it?" He asked.

Dårlig blew a raspberry. "Pff! Human meat! You hear that, Feige? They already think we're cannibals!"

He pulled open drawers that were hidden in the cart, which expanded into stacked dishes based on types. Dårlig unbuckled the donkey's harness and the beast began to lift up dishes on its head before pushing them on the table. Feige's insane gradient-colored hair turned into expandable, hairy tentacles that grabbed pitchers from the cart and began pouring different beverages for the guests.

"Cool!" Troy, Connor, and Parker said as Feige filled their cups with root beer floats.

"How nice," Lydia commented when she and the other adults of the Loughran family were served sparkling champagne.

"Doe blood for your Countship, Countship Senior, and Countship Junior, made out of 666 young does' blood," Dårlig told Dracula.

"That many deer?" Minerva looked startled. "What a bloodbath."

"Don't worry, it was all a blood donation," Dårlig said. "But we _did_ kill like ten for the meat supplies of the kitchen."

Feige then went to serve iced water into the glasses of the snow spirit monsters and pulled out a display of tea bag options that shaped into a small duplicate of the hotel. Dårlig then poured a red liquid into Dennis' cup.

"What's in that?" Mavis asked cautiously.

"A mix of tomato juice and cow blood," Dårlig said. "Even flavors. It's healthy for the kid." He threw the pitcher in the air and landed perfectly onto the top of the cart. The vehicle spit out a pitcher screaming red steam and emitting coldness.

Minerva took a long inhale and smiled. "Is that... nightshade and bloody orange juice?"

"Freshly squeezed and brewed with the rare flames of North pole blue fire," Feige said proudly while Dårlig poured the beverage in for Minerva. "We did have to double-consult with the snow clan leaders on your preferences since you are the _only_ one who hasn't come to the hotel yet."

"Yeah, how come we _never_ saw her at the hotel if she's Luna's daughter? And who's Peter?" Mavis repeated.

"Mavis!" Dracula said.

"Oh, didn't you hear?" Venus said coldly while putting large spoonful helpings of frosted Himalayan noodles on her plate. "Luna got combusted because she mixed with a human and got Mutt Flakes here."

"Do you _want_ me to take off my boot again or would you prefer that I have your siblings do it?" Juno snapped.

"Luna's dead..." Mavis look sad. "When was this?"

"Twenty years ago," Cetus and Nicolas said together.

"What about the father?" Mike asked.

Some gulps came from the table when they noticed frost growing on the tablecloth. Minerva was beginning to lose her patience.

"Switch the topic already, can't you see that this is a sensitive topic for her?!" Dracula said sternly. His attitude made those who brought the topic to shut up. Minerva took a deep breath to calm down and the frost disappeared.

Two of snow spirit monsters, Aunt Tatiana and Uncle Demetrius who've live since the beginning of Imperial Russia, were the first to take into Dracula's advice. "So Minerva, how goes your studies?" Tatiana asked from a few seats away in her thick Russian accent.

" _Da,_ Nicolas says you went to the same _khudozhestvennaya shkola_ as Peter just outside of Bianca Hills," Demetrius said while he poured himself a bowl of iceberg and frozen herring blood soup.

"Oh, you go to a regular college?" Linda asked Minerva. "Or... whatever he said."

"A human college just outside of my hometown in Bianca Hills in Maryland." Minerva took a sip of her mixed juice. "I mostly commute when its fall or spring, in winter I stay in campus, and when the weather starts getting warm my uncle and I go to Norway."

"Why not in Transylvania?" Mavis frowned.

"I think you forgot that this place used to be human-free," Nicolas said. "Even after the hotel became open for humans, we still had to wait until the ice spirit monsters go into hibernation for the next fifty years."

"Ah, yes!" Vlad held up his cup of blood. "Jack Frost and his cronies go to sleep on this coming winter solstice." He sat across the table from Minerva and Nicolas, but he made a sniff that was rather loud. "Uh. For a hybrid, your human scent is rather faint. Though since you haven't lost your sanity, I'm assuming you were raised human."

"Fifty-fifty," Minerva nodded.

"I mean, who would be crazy enough to raise her fully monster or fully human and have her reject or other half?" Juno commented. "Everyone knows bad things happen when a hybrid is forced to be one way by one of his biological parents!"

"What would happen?" Dennis' human cousins asked eagerly. The snow spirit monster woman stared at them as if they were nuts.

"Simple. Grow a hybrid fully human, he hates monsters. Grow him fully monster, they turn into insane killing machines."

"That's ridiculous!" Mavis said. "Dennis is half-human, half-vampire."

"You raised him human when you thought he wasn't a monster," Dracula said. He leaned towards Minerva. "Denisovich is a bit of a late-fanger."

"Great, then maybe he should have been a girl," Venus muttered while Dårlig and Feige started clearing some of the empty dishes.

"You still can't get over the fact that you're a late winter blossom, can you?" Minerva crossed her arms at her cousin.

"Forgive me, not all of us are prodigies when they are toddlers," Venus commented.

"Dessert!" Dårlig and Feige hammered a big plate wielding a giant cake divided in half. "Chocolate coconut and nightshade velvet. Frosted with vanilla and scream cheese." Dårlig walked a few feet away from the table while Feige piled up the dessert plates. Dårlig then threw a bunch of knives at the cake, causing the slices to fly in the air. Feige threw in the plates and they landed safely before the guests, giving each of them a perfect slice.

"Brilliant service and performance," Dracula praised Dårlig, who curtsied and went back to stacking the dirty dishes on the cart. While most of Johnny's relatives went on to discuss holidays and sports (who knew they all liked ice hockey and the Winter Olympics?) and the kids either devoured their dessert or played with 'turning-the-cake-into-living-cake men', Dracula went on to accost Minerva.

"My apologies for my family and in-laws nearly getting on your nerves," he said sincerely.

"Don't worry, I'm used to it," Minerva shrugged nicely as she dug her fork through her cake. "But I didn't mean to frost up your tablecloth." She briefly glanced at Mavis, who was trying to remove the nightshade off Dennis' slice. "My uncle never told me that your daughter knew my mom."

"Yes, they were of the same age, but as you many have noticed in your family, snow spirit monsters physically age faster than vampires until they hit a point where they 'freeze' the process and take longer to age. Luna's aging slowed down when she and Mavis were around 25."

"Must have been a strange scenario," Minerva said.

"I hope it's not too sensitive for you, but how did your parents meet?" Dracula asked.

"It isn't. They met at an ice sculpture gallery show in Washington DC on a cold January. My uncle Nicolas says that my knew my mom was different when he noticed she wasn't as bundled up as the human visitors were for the show, and when he nearly slipped on an iced sidewalk, she unfroze it." She chuckled. "He did still kind of trip on the new puddle on his foot and he ended up accidentally falling on my mom. Physically _and_ zing."

"Was your father from that town you come from? I know Johnny's family is from California... which I'm not very familiar with."

"Bianca Hills is in Maryland. It's farther away from California but it's closer to the Atlantic Ocean. But my dad actually came from Chicago, in the Midwest." Minerva sighed. "My uncles said that they tried to dissuade my mother from moving to Chicago and settle there with my dad after the marriage."

"I can relate. Mavis wanted to move to California when she thought Denisovich wasn't a vampire."

Minerva frowned deadpan. "Really? A vampire-human hybrid in a hot, sunny state like California? It's like putting ice to melt in the Sahara. A complete beacon."

"Isn't it?" Dracula smirked. He and Minerva chuckled at the small joke while so far, only Mavis and Grandpa Janus seemed to separately notice the conversation but in two different perspectives. Mavis looked like she was frowning in mistrust while Janus was arching an impressed eyebrow at the sight of his hybrid grandchild interacting with Count Dracula.

"I mean, it wasn't so much that my uncles didn't want me to live among humans -don't get me wrong, my best friend is human!" Minerva held out her hand in defense. "Their problem was that the American Midwest is a playground for the ice spirit monsters. You know, winter blizzards, street accidents, people dying."

"Your mother was willing to bring her own hybrid child in a territory where ice spirit monsters could pick up the scent?" Dracula was shocked. "You know, Jack Frost is like the monster-version of Van Hellsing. He especially hunts down younger hybrids because their scents are stronger than when they are older."

"I know he hates hybrids. Why do you think that after saving me from a near-death experience, my uncles Nicolas and Cetus held the funeral of 'me and my parents'," Minerva did the air-quote gesture, "had my human family believe I was dead while in reality I was alive and they brought me to Bianca Hills, a friendly town of humans and monsters co-existing? If Jack Frost thinks I'm dead with my monster mother and human dad, than my father's relatives had to believe it."

"And your uncles raised you."

"Primarily my uncle Nicolas. Though we do a mix between our relatives visiting us or us going to visit them, and in the summer, we usually meet up in Norway. Mostly because we avoid the summer heat."

"Anyone want second helpings or a cup of coffee before we clean and scram?" Feige called out.

"Maybe more of the nightshade velvet side of the cake and the juice, please?" Minerva raised her cup, which Feige instantly filled up while also putting a new slice of cake on the plate, only with more of the monster flavor than the regular human one.

"Isn't it a little risky to eat poison?" Linda asked Minerva nervously, but the latter was too busy devouring off her cake. "Or maybe it's just in your family?"

"No, it's just a thing with my niece," Nicolas shrugged proudly. "I usually make a mix of monster and human food back home to equalize her hybrid appetite. Though oddly enough her metabolism makes her immune to human poisons and delays her monster weakness reactions."

"Hybrids have delayed reactions?" Mavis briefly looked at Dennis. "But Dennis hasn't gotten any negative reactions whenever he's out in the sun."

"He did get his skin reddened on the summer solstice shortly after he got his fangs on his birthday," Dracula said.

"Yeah, that was a lot of sunburn medicine to get later on," Johnny agreed.

"I hope he hasn't had issues with garlic," Minerva said.

"We have like three vampires and one dhampyr in this hotel," Dårlig commented while he cleared the table. "I think I'd be fired on the spot if garlic was caught hanging in my kitchen. We have mandrakes."

The families began to split to go on with their planned evening. Most of the children ran off to play while the adults went to do something else.

"Say Minerva, we're going to check out the field they're using for our performance," one of the snow spirits cousins told Minerva. "Wanna come with us?"

"Not right now," Minerva shook her head politely. "I have a monster mani-pedi rendezvous at the hotel spa with my friend Priscilla. Maybe we can meet later."

"Sure. Tell Priscilla we can't wait to see her!"

As the parties made their way and Dracula escorted them out, his eyes quickly met with Minerva's as she left. The latter smirked a bit and it was only when she had her back turned that Dracula let out his small blush and dreamy glance.

Janus didn't miss that. He directed Danae to push his wheelchair toward Nicolas and Cetus and had his sons hide with him behind a doorway to whisper in their ears: "Gather the other leaders of our clan at my room. We have things to discuss."


	4. Frosty Plans, Mani-Pedi, and Loose Bones

Chapter 4: Frosty Plans, Mani-Pedi, and Loose Bones

Just an hour and a half after the end of dinner, Danae was clapping her hands to get the attention of the rest of the leaders of the snow spirit monsters. With Janus sitting up on his frozen bed and snowflakes falling on him, everyone else was either sitting on a snow chair or on the frosted floor. The other leaders included Nicolas, Cetus, Demetrius, Tatiana, Juno and her husband Jupiter, Aunt Alcmene from China, Cousin Caesar from Italy, twins Aunt Victoire and Uncle Félix from France, Caesar's Greek cousin Alexander, and Uncle Aquilo from Japan.

"OK, everyone! Frost down, the lead patriarch of our family is going to speak!" Danae declared.

"I'm sorry to cut off before you even began, Father, but what is there to discuss?" Cetus raised his hand. "The Half-Centennial Slumber is on the way and we can guarantee that we've done our mission of keeping Minerva safe from Jack Frost."

"Let me speak!" Janus ordered, causing his son to shut up. Janus summoned a large snowflake that acted as an image PowerPoint. It represented a ranking of Dracula, Jack Frost and his party, and the snow spirit monster clan. "So, as you all know, our clan is part of a chain in the monster dominance. We are loyal to Dracula, the leader of the chain as he is king of the monsters, but Jack Frost keeps us from second place. In other words, Dracula scares Jack Frost, Jack Frost scares us, and Dracula protects us. The fact that we've had hybrids in our before Minerva who got slaughtered by Jack Frost is nothing new. We are basically a buffet for that ice spirit monster's desire to wipe off anyone who's half-human, half-monster."

The leaders nodded in dismay. It was a fact of life that as human-loving monsters, some previous members of the snow clan had dared to mate with humans and have children. Sadly, all of the hybrid children barely got the luck of seeing the first two or five years of their life by falling in the lethal hands of Jack Frost. Or there was also burning from superstitious humans, but that only happened once. Otherwise, Minerva was so far the only hybrid in the snow spirit monsters to have managed to reach her adulthood.

" _But_ , I have made a recent discovery," Janus announced. "It has come to my attention at dinner... that our host Count Dracula has taken an enamored shine on Minerva."

Gasps came from the other leaders.

"Wait! Are you telling me that _my niece_ zinged with Dracula?" Nicolas was baffled.

"Well... we might have noticed that he was unusually polite to Minerva and he was the first to calm her down when she had an impatience crisis," Danae pointed out. "And has anyone noticed he wore his best cape... which he hardly wears?"

"A second zing!" Aunt Victoire sighed in her French accent. " _Si romantique!"_

"So!" Janus created a snowflake image of Minerva that he placed on the PowerPoint display. Lines appeared, as if Minerva was acting as a link between Dracula and the snow clan. "Here is my new plan! We _indirectly_ encourage our host and my granddaughter into spending time together, and in the end, the new relationship status will lead Dracula to add further protection on Minerva! We get the ensure safe and happy life that Minerva deserves and Jack Frost and his goons won't dare lay a finger on her or any other future hybrids in our joined families since we'll be at the top of the monster chain with Dracula!"

Eyes blinked in the audience. "OK, we'll vote then. I believe in democracy." Janus turned to Nicolas. "My son, you're the legal guardian of Minerva. What do you have to say?"

"I don't know," Nicolas said. "I love Minerva as if she were my own. I'd love her to be safe and find her zing- which would be great with Dracula since he's a great monster...but I can't see myself tricking my own niece."

"Write down the stuff for who's neutral, in, or out." Janus told Danae, who proceeded to create a snow clipboard and took notes on the debate. "Anyone else?"

Aunt Alcmene raised her hand. "I live in a country where even monsters spent history playing matchmakers to ensure that their children are well off. If pairing off Minerva with Dracula can ensure she's protected in a good monster family, I say yes."

"Well I'm against it," Cousin Caesar said. "I'm not saying Patriarch Janus is wrong, but what if it turns that it isn't a zing? Worse, what if Dracula finds out we're trying to trick him? We'd be at the mercy of the ice spirits and my cousin's blood would be shed before Jack Frost even goes to sleep!"

"One neutral, one yes, one no," Danae recollected. "Anyone else?"

"I'll side with Nicolas," Cousin Alexander said. "I stay neutral. Mostly because I have no experience in the role of matchmaker."

Aunt Victoire and Uncle Félix whispered to one another before saying together: "We say yes to love."

"Three yes, two neutrals, and one no," Danae recollected. "Anyone else?"

"I say no," Demetrius said. "Minerva is still a young adult and she must learn to be _nezavisimyy_. Even if there's a possibility that she had a zing with Dracula, she must first be able to take care of herself."

"OK. Three yes, two no, and two neutral."

"I have to say yes," Aquilo sighed.

"Were you not listening when I just said that Minerva needs independence?" Demetrius scowled at the Japanese snow spirit monster.

"It's not that. I love Minerva as much as the rest of you, but how can we trust she'll be able to take care of herself with those crisis attacks she gets just from the mere mention of her parents' death?" Aquilo said. "Let's imagine that someone won't stop bothering her on the topic and she ends up creating a masse of ice or a large snow magic beacon that will alert Jack Frost that he didn't finish his job. I did witness Dracula calming her down with his extreme sense of patience. If a monster like Dracula outside of our circle can calm her down without causing her to be found, I say yes."

"We're on the lead with four yes," Danae said.

"I'm sorry, my love, but I have to side with Aquilo on this one," Tatiana apologized to her husband Demetrius.

"Five yes," Danae said.

"I'm staying neutral," Uncle Jupiter said. "It's not my place to do these things."

"I agree with my husband," Juno nodded.

"Five yes, four neutral, and two no," Danae resumed. "Cetus?"

Cetus looked at Nicolas. The latter shrugged and the former nodded. "Minerva's life matters most, we can't take any chances. I say yes."

"In that case, I think we can all agree that the winning majority is positive." Danae smashed her clipboard on the wall.

"Excellent!" Janus clapped his hands and Danae helped him back on the wheelchair. "Now remember, don't get the other members of our clan involved. Only us leaders can do the indirect encouragement.

"I just hope you know what you are doing, Father," Nicolas said.

"Naturally! When was I ever wrong?"

 _Meanwhile, at the Hotel Transylvania spa_

Priscilla flicked a coin and it landed perfectly on a jar resting next to Minerva's seat. Points on the jar being labeled MINERVA TOLD PRISCILLA SO.

As they had planned, Minerva and Priscilla had gone to the spa. Its old torture chamber style did get some modern touching for the human clients, like making the electric chair-fashioned seats made out of leather, New Age music playing in the speakers, and a diverse selection of therapies from normal to supernatural.

Minerva and Priscilla were relaxing in chairs while witches took care of their mani-pedi. Both sighed in relief as the cold unagi broth water disinfected their unoccupied feet while the witches took care of the mani-pedi.

"I told you so," Minerva told Priscilla.

"You did," Priscilla smirked. The witch who was applying a dark green shade of nail polish on her fingernails showed her an image brochure of available nail designs. "May I have the design of the poison ivy vines with a touch of light blood red, please?"

"Certainly," the witch said as she put the brochure away and went back to her work.

"So," Priscilla went back to Minerva, who was enjoying the new black nail polish with glittery white spiderweb designs she had gotten on her fingers while the witch tending her went on to file her toenails, "how was the dinner with your family and the Draculas? I want to hear all of it!"

"Oh, it was great," Minerva said. "The food was great and it's such great service, composing a menu that would fit the guests whether they are monsters, human, or hybrids. Don't get me started on the bloody orange and nightshade juice! My relatives were all happy to see me, Cousin Venus is still sour..."

"Your cousin still can't get over her sour self?" Priscilla asked. "I mean, just because she's labeled as your family's black sheep doesn't mean she should act like one."

"Can you blame her?" Minerva said in sympathy. "My Aunt Juno and most of her side of the family won't stop nagging her for being a late winter's blossom... and reminding her that I did better than most of my relatives when it came to developing my powers." She sighed. "And then Mavis and her in-laws don't like me."

"Why would the Count's daughter not like you?" The witch doing her pedicure asked, even though it was none of her business to question her customers' business. "Ms. Mavis is usually very open to all people, whether they're human or monsters."

"Almost sounds like you... only you seem more like yourself when it comes to monsters," Priscilla said.

"That's just it!" Minerva sat up straight on her chair. "Mavis and her in-laws didn't seem to trust me. Stuff like 'Guess what? Minerva's mom was actually playmates with Mavis when they were kids!' 'Why is it we never heard about Luna being with a human and dying?' 'Why is it you never brought her to Transylvania?' 'Why is it that for a hybrid, she seems not-so-human with what she does and what she eats?' 'Why is it that you raise Minerva so differently than Dennis?'"

"Who's Dennis?" Priscilla frowned.

"Master Dracula's dhampyr grandson," the witch designing the poison ivy pattern on her nails said.

"Hey, that's great!" Priscilla turned to Minerva.

"I fail to see what's great about these people thinking I'm weird," Minerva said coldly.

"No, no, not that!" Priscilla shook her head. "Mindy, think about it. By far, you're the second human-monster hybrid they've met. And because of You-Know-Who, it's rarely happened to anyone to see an adult hybrid like you. Maybe it would work out in everyone's favor if you acted like an inspiration. You know, a model citizen ."

"Do I look like I'm Elvis Presley to you?" Minerva said as she got off her chair and put her shoes back on once her mani-pedi was fully dry. She tipped the witch with a dried newt, making the latter give out a crooked smile of joy.

Priscilla's eyes widened in horror. "Oh no. Mindy, where's Michael?"

 _Meanwhile, in the lobby_

"I can't believe we lost Michael!" Kendrick groaned when he and Demi got to the lobby. "He could be anywhere in the hotel!"

"How hard is it to find a skeleton?" Demi shrugged as she went through her Iphone's playlist of pop music. "For all we know, he could be hiding in his closet. I hear skeletons do that."

"RACIST!" A couple of skeletons who were passing by heard Demi's remark and the wife of them felt insulted.

"I'm so sorry!" Kendrick clasped his hairy hand over Demi's mouth. "She's an airhead."

"Then get her a more solid skull!" The skeleton husband snapped at Kendrick before going up with his wife. Kendrick let go of Demi's mouth and they proceeded to go to the main desk. They ran into Jonathan Loughran and Dracula, who were going over the ice skating activity offered to the guests.

"Excuse me," Kendrick got their attention.

"I didn't know Wayne had an albino cousin!" Jonathan smirked. "Totally cool!"

"Nah, I don't associate with massive litter wolves." Kendrick shook his head.

"Did you see a skeleton?" Demi asked out loud.

"You'll have to be more specific," Dracula said. "We have many skeletons checking into the hotel."

"Sorry. Ours is dressed like Michael Jackson and will most likely brainwash somebody into dancing the Thriller," Kendrick said.

This seemed to get Dracula's concern. He rushed to one of the nearest animated guard armors, who informed him that Michael was spotted in the bar, fighting his way to the stage against Wayne, Frankie, and Murray.

"Great! I should have chewed on his bones when I had the chance!" Kendrick was the first to run towards the bar.

"To be fair, you're the one who put the idea in Michael that he was the skeleton of the dead Michael Jackson!" Demi retorted.

Dracula and Johnny merely shrugged as they went to the nearest empty room to use the secret tunnels to make their way to the bar. Dracula pulled the torch and the wall opened... just in time to see Kendrick and Demi engaged in a tug-of-war match against the combined forces of Frankie, Wayne, and Murray. Michael was yelping as his arms and legs were being pulled by the parties while he was jumping his butt in the air to avoid getting eaten by the werewolf pups.

"Huh," Johnny said. "It's my first day all over again."

"What on earth are you doing?!" Dracula demanded as he stormed into the bar. His friends and the two other monsters paused in their mayhem.

"This guy used one of his arms to hit on one of my kids and get our place in line for the karaoke stage!" Wayne said angrily. He only got angry when one of his unruly kids got hurt. That was the only exception.

"And your best idea was to rip my friend off?" Kendrick shouted back as he tried to pull Michael back towards him.

"I WAS A DECENT BLACK MAN! I WAS A CHRISTIAN! I WAS MICHAEL!" Michael shouted his prayers in advance.

A cold breeze came in the bar, which caused some of the clients drinking in the area to shiver. Dracula turned to one of the archways and saw Minerva accompanied by an Asian woman of her age in a modern knee-length kira dress with dark green and black horizontal lines and a dragon brooch. The two women looked blankly at the scene. Even the wolf pups stopped their mayhem.

"Please tell me you aren't trying to tick off the locals already," Minerva sighed in exasperation at Kendrick, Demi, and Michael.

"I give up." Wayne let go of Michael and Frankie and Murray followed him. Michael catapulted right onto Kendrick and Demi, making them collapse on the floor.

"I'm terribly sorry!" Dracula walked up to Minerva, looking embarrassed. "We didn't know they were your friends. There was... a little mishap with your boney friend and the werewolf pups."

"Welcome to my life," Minerva's human friend said drily. The werewolf pups looked eagerly at Michael, who ran to hide behind Priscilla.

"Oh boy," Minerva said.

"Don't worry, people eventually get used to my kids' chaos," Wayne told her.

"I'm actually worried for your kids," Minerva said with a frown.

The pups barely started growling at Priscilla when she placed her fingers in her mouth and gave a sharp whistle. Kendrick covered his ears while Wayne looked confused. Minerva used her snow magic to have earmuffs protect Wayne while his children suffered the upcoming shouting from Priscilla.

"BACK IN LINE, YOU RASCAL MUTTS!" She sounded so much like a sergeant, the pups immediately lined up in around twelve perfectly parallel lines. "WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS IS, AN INDOOR PLAYGROUND? GO SIT DOWN, YOU HAVE A 365 HOUR TIME OUT, OR NO CHOW FOR YOU!"

Instead of scurrying away as they usually did, the pups actually walked in a perfect line and went to sit down on the floor by a corner, their eyes fixated on the wall.

"Wow, you're good," Demi commented.

"Thank you," Priscilla straightened her kira dress. "I did do an internship at the boot camp my Uncle Ram works at for the RBA back in middle school. Managed to ace on training the guard dogs."

"Can I hire you to babysit my kids?" Wayne begged as he took off his earmuffs.

"No," Priscilla said flatly. She pulled out a roll of duck tape and glared at Michael.

"C'mon!" He said. He turned to Minerva.

She shook her head. "We had a deal," she said firmly. "You try brainwashing people by dancing Michael Jackson style thirteen times in a row, you'll have to spend thirteen days with your arms taped."

"I specialize in wraps!" Murray grabbed the duck tape from Priscilla and in less than a minute, he perfectly wrapped up Michael's arms with the tape. The skeleton almost looked like a silver mummy (well, through the arms). Michael yelped.

"Wow," Kendrick whistled. "You're now Mum-Michael."

Minerva groaned at the sight and facepalmed herself. "I need a drink, you guys are exasperating," she said as she sat by the bar. "Nightshade and bloody orange, please."

Demi checked one of the empty tables and found a card game resting on the table. "Hey, they have Cards Against Life In General!" She held up the black card game box.

"Dude, I love that game!" Johnny joined her at the table. Most of the two parties began pulling chairs to be close enough to grab cards and get acquainted better (though Murray wouldn't stop keeping Michael close to him). The only two who didn't seem interested in the game at the moment were Minerva and Dracula. She had just received her order and began drinking when Dracula decided himself to get some blood beaters.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," Minerva said.

"No, no, it's alright!" Dracula reassured her. "I do have my times when my friends exasperate me." He briefly looked back at their friends playing. "So, the one who managed to discipline Wayne's kids is the human friend you mentioned earlier?"

"Yep. That's Priscilla." She leaned and whispered to Dracula. "Tip of advice, don't question her on law studies or over-the-top internships. She got sensitive to the point that she used one of her law books as a boomerang on a guy who made fun of her interests."

"I see. And the others? I'm surprised that you managed to befriend an amarok. We hardly see his kind at the hotel."

"He's my second best-friend, but the best one to talk to for monster issues. Michael... he's the skeleton of a kid Priscilla and I knew back in high school. Demi... she's a troll-dryad hybrid. Honestly, without us, her only companion would be her headphones set."

"I see." Dracula's cup arrived and he had it touch Minerva's for cheers. "So, how is your first evening here for the moment? I'm surprised you aren't spending time with your family."

"The same way you're drinking blood beaters rather than running your hotel?" Minerva replied with an amused smirk. Dracula was stunned for a moment, but the smirk was returned and he finished his beverage in a bolt's speed.

"You know, I might have to go all over the hotel for my business," he said in a passive fashion, "I believe I might have room for a tour. That is, if you'd be interested."

Minerva blushed. The Prince of Darkness himself was just suggesting giving her a tour of the hotel. _Why am I falling for clichés_? She scolded herself mentally.

Priscilla, who had heard a bit of that conversation, dropped her cards and rushed to Minerva. She pulled the latter by the shoulders and off the seat to have her stand before Dracula. "She'd be interested, she thinks it will be fun and it will certainly give her the heads up she needs since her relatives already know the place!"

"But Prissy!" Minerva complained.

"Don't worry, we'll still have time to join the others for that monster badminton game against your Scottish relatives before the sunrise," Priscilla shrugged it off before than saying bluntly: "Though I still don't understand how your Aunt Juno manages to give birth to twins for thirty straight years and most of her oldest pairs live in Scotland."

"She made the mistake of marrying in spring," Minerva shrugged. "And Scotland's great at badminton."

"Tell your aunt that she can always talk to my wife on massive offspring set!" Wayne called out.

"You know, there is such a thing as 'contraception'," Kendrick pointed out.

"Nobody cares about your pharmaceutical drama life!" Priscilla snapped.

"Maybe we should go," Minerva told Dracula.

"Good call," he nodded. They walked away to the nearest exit, leaving the friends to play their card game.

 _An hour and a half later, in Mavis and Johnny's living quarters_

Mavis and Johnny's older sister placed the boxes that the latter had brought over onto the small kitchen table. Since Christmas was almost in the area, Johnny thought it would be great to do one of the annual Loughran gingerbread house decorations for the kids. He had his sister bring in the stuff, since she ran a pastry shop back in Santa Cruz, and she purposely designed the gingerbread houses to appear as sweet replicas of Hotel Transylvania.

"This is so gonna be great!" Mavis said. "Dennis will love it!"

"And with the peanut butter crumb candy, whipped scream cheese, and candy canes we have, it should also work out for the werewolf pups." Johnny's sister made sure to put any perishable ingredient in the coffin-shaped fridge. "Remind me to ask the snow spirit monsters what kind of candy their kids like."

"What?" Mavis asked.

"You know, the ones we met at the dinner. Some of Mrs. Juno's sons and daughters with kids of their own thought it would be nice if their kids and the many younger siblings below ten joined us for the gingerbread house decorating," Johnny's sister said. "I mean, I brought like a hundred boxes of the set, so it should be convenient..."

"That's awfully nice of you, but I think the gingerbread houses should be saved for the Draculas and Loughrans," Mavis said flatly. She went back to storing more boxes on the table and feigned following the instruction to open them.

Johnny's sister frowned at Mavis. "You still don't like Minerva. Mavis, why on earth do you behave like this around her?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," the female vampire said. The human woman wasn't buying any of it. She stopped what she was doing and had Mavis sit down on a nearby chair.

"C'mon," she said. "I mean, shouldn't you be glad that there's another person that's similar to Dennis? "

"I really don't know," Mavis sighed and crossed her arms. "I mean, I'm _glad_ that Luna had a love story similar to mine and had a hybrid kid, but then I'm angry that nobody told me so. I'm confused as to why even after my dad opened the hotel to humans, it's only now they bring her to Transylvania. I don't want to believe what they said about the consequences of hybrids rejecting one half of their nature, I don't like how her whole family makes her so perfect, and I don't like the way my dad spoke to her!"

"Oh, I get it now," Johnny's sister rolled her eyes when her sister-in-law raised her voice at the last part of the sentence. "You're actually worried that your dad might be into her. That's a fuss for nothing."

" _Fuss for nothing_?" Mavis arched a skeptical eyebrow. "He had his zing with my mom. That only happens once in a lifetime!"

"Mavis, it's not uncommon for people to fall in love more than once," her human sister-in-law said patiently while briefly admiring the kitchen window's view of the forest at nighttime winter. "I mean, humans go on dates even if they are widowed, divorced, or left behind. And contrary to what tales would make you believe, stepparents can actually fill up the void you got from a missing parent. I don't see why your dad shouldn't have the right to fill up his romantic void with someone else."

Mavis lowered her head. "I just don't like it."

"Look, if Dracula likes some snow spirit and human hybrid, it's not the end of the world. But if it bothers you to the extreme, just talk to him."

"OK."

"I know! Let's go bring the kids to ice skate! That will cheer you up."

The women were busy cleaning up the area and making their way out, they did not notice a blue mist and a gust of snowflakes flying outside and leaving their trails behind while going up to the roof.


	5. Dracula And Minerva

Chapter 5: Dracula And Minerva

Dracula and Minerva shifted back into their physical forms once they reached the rooftop, the final area that the former showed to the latter during the tour of the hotel. Minerva marveled at the sight of the forest surrounding the castle like a haunted great wall powdered by snow, the iced lake shining from the light of the full moon, and flocks of bats flying off into the sky covered in stars.

"I've never seen such a sight!" She said.

"Yes, with a castle that's thirteen stories tall, the view in Transylvania can be a miracle," Dracula nodded. He swooshed his cape to throw off some of the snow on the tiles, making them land on some zombie bellhops in the ground level.

"Not even Galdhøpiggen has a view like this." Minerva sat down on the roof. A thin pile of snow acted like a cushion for her.

"You've been to those mountains?" Dracula asked while sitting down as well, keeping just a good foot of distance between him and Minerva.

"Once, when I was fourteen. My uncle Nicolas and I went to spend our usual summer vacation at Grandma Janus and Danae's home in Norway. They took me and the rest of my cousins on a hiking trip there. We almost had a near-breath-loss experience by accidentally running into Frost Giants."

"Frost Giants? They usually troll around Jack Frost," Dracula was shocked. "However did you manage to get past them?"

"Dumb luck," Minerva shrugged. "It so happened that their noses were clogged with ice, they forget to clean it in the past decades. Frost Giants aren't really brilliant, anyway. Since they couldn't sniff me out, they thought I was a full-blooded snow spirit monster." She tilted her head at the moon. "They were nice folks, though. The mead they gave us was quite flavorful."

"Jotun mead?" Dracula guessed.

"Yep."

"That's an exceptional treat. I used to drink these with Martha..." Dracula's voice trailed off. Seeing two bats fly off into the distant moon did not help.

"What was Martha like?" The question just came out like that from Minerva, full of curiosity. "You know, before she was fatally persecuted?" The last part sounded more understanding.

"A dear countess that I loved dearly. We were only married for a year when she died on this month," Dracula said sadly. "This place was an idea she and I talked about to protect Mavis. When Martha died, I built Hotel Transylvania to keep my promise."

"Is it everything you both hoped for?"

Dracula sighed. "I don't know. I managed to keep Mavis safe here until she wanted to go explore the world and met Johnny. I wanted to keep my family together, even though Mavis thought she ought to move because Denisovich hadn't manifested his powers yet... until he finally got them on his fifth birthday."

"Was she expecting him to be human?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "She didn't care. I really wanted Denisovich to have his fangs out."

"It's natural," Minerva nodded. "My uncle Nicolas was the one who primarily raised me, but when it came to the family teaching me how to be half-monster, his brother Cetus helped him the most. I never forget all the winters of my childhood when they tutored me. They even purposely lowered the temperature of the house so that I'd catch a cold and create my first snow blast by sneezing when I was one."

"I kind of threw off my grandson off a tall, unstable tower so he could fly," Dracula said awkwardly. "It did not work and Mavis got angry."

"You think that's bad?" Minerva smirked. "Aunt Victoire and I had to purposely throw one of Aunt Juno's kids off the Eiffel Tower to get the kid to turn into a gust of snowflakes. The wind almost blew him away when he managed to transform into a tiny snow breeze."

"Mavis would have fainted," Dracula laughed.

"Uncle Nicolas says that Luna would have yelled at Aunt Juno for letting it happen. Apparently she had that kind of reaction when she found out that Grandpa Janus threw my uncles off Mt Everest when they were seven when she only had to jump off the house roof when she was three. I think I managed to transform when I was two or three. Shockingly enough, animal transforming is a lot harder than turning into snowflake gusts."

"You can shapeshift into animals?" Dracula was stunned. "I've hardly seen your other relatives do it. Well, I did see the Russian snow spirit monster Demetrius turn into a Siberian tiger once, but..." He got cut off when Minerva suddenly disappeared and an evening bat with fur matching Luna's hair color and had her grey eyes blinking at him. The frozen vampire morphed into a far more blushing bat that chuckled nervously.

"I... I..." He got his tongue twisted. Just then, a trapdoor hidden in the tiles lifted up and a suit of armor stuck its head out.

"Sir, we have an emergency in Mr. Bigfoot's toilet again!"

"Oy!" Dracula turned to Minerva. "I guess the tour ends here. Though I do hope we get more acquainted." He flew up to her and bowed. Minerva giggled in flatter.

"Certainly, Count," she curtsied in her own bat form.

"Please, call me Drac... Or Vladimir. Whatever slips out of the tongue."

She smirked at him and flew down the castle wall. Dracula morphed back into his regular self and gave a dreamy sigh as he saw the hybrid's bat form fly off.

"Ah, courtly love," the suit of armor sighed, much to Dracula's annoyance. "Back in the old days, the ladies were champions of playing hard to get."

Dracula kicked him back in, giving him some relief.

 _Meanwhile_

The ice skating field was right next to the monster badminton court just on the south side of the hotel, with a stone courtyard where the guests could enjoy the view of the lake or eat. Many monsters or humans went out to ice skate, whether they were pros or just learning.

"C'mon, Parker, it's easy." Johnny's sister tried to help her son skate on the ice, but the small boy kept tripping. Dennis had some difficulties of his own: he was able to ice skate as a bat, but he kept losing his balance everytime he was human.

"Can I try skating without the skates, Mommy?" Dennis asked Mavis.

"Sorry, honey. You need them to move on the ice," Mavis said.

Dennis groaned, but still tried. His left foot slipped and he nearly turned into a bat to avoid slipping when one blue bat flew from the sky and circled around Dennis, creating a small trail of snowflakes that prevented the young hybrid from falling while also entertaining him.

The blue bat changed into Minerva, startling a bit Mavis.

"I didn't know she could turn into a bat..." She said.

"I didn't know she didn't need ice skates to move on the ice," Johnny's sister said.

"Arms out, Butterballs," Minerva told Dennis while skating around him with her arms out. "You're like a bat gliding without actually transforming."

Dennis laughed and imitated her movements. He managed to copy her without even tripping. "Yay!"

"Bat spins on the lake!" Minerva jumped off the rink and made a perfect twirl, landing perfectly. Dennis took her word and did his own perfect spin. Some bystanders got fascinated by the scene and began taking out their phones to record this scene while Mavis was too speechless. Her sister-in-law couldn't tell what the female vampire was thinking right now at the sight of the two hybrids ice-skating together.

"Bat kicks the soccer ball!" Minerva shot her leg up and stunned people with a summersault, landing right on her feet.

"Bat kicks the soccer ball!" Dennis imitated her without even tripping. "This is fun!"

"Butterballs, you're only getting warmed up!" Minerva laughed and shocked everyone by ice skating backwards and doing ballet twirling before jumping in the doing, performing a triple summersault, and landing right on her feet. "Yeti skiing on his back and spinning up Mt Everest!"

"Yeti skiing on his back and spinning up Mt Everest!" Dennis repeated her every movement. Naturally, since he had the Dracula style of showing off, he turned into a bat when it came to the summersault part. Minerva held out her hand and Dennis landed standing on her palm.

"Tada!" They both exclaimed.

Everyone applauded at them as they made their way back to the main grass (though for Minerva, it was more like walking).

"That was so cool!" Parker clapped.

Dennis tugged Minerva by the fabric of her pants. She smiled at him and bent down so that her eyes were at the same level as his. "Thanks for teaching me how to ice skate, Minerva."

"Anytime, Butterballs." She ruffled her head before lifting her head up and checking the sky. "I'd better go get ready for that monster badminton game with my friends and my cousins."

"Can I come with you? Please? Please!" Dennis started begging her.

"Actually, honey, we were going to make snowmen with your cousins." Mavis came to take Dennis by the hand.

"Really, Mavis, it might be an excellent idea for Dennis to spend some time with Minerva," Johnny's sister said.

"What?" Mavis frowned.

"Yay!" Dennis said.

"Are you sure?" Minerva asked cautiously.

"Why not? Dennis has never met an adult hybrid. Maybe you could teach him how to manage being half-human, half-monster."

"I'm not sure..." Mavis began.

"I understand your doubts." Minerva nodded before then turning her back by forty-five degrees. "It's not the first time people mistrust me for my mixed heritage."

"Excuse me?" Mavis scowled at her. "What are you implying?"

"I'm saying I'm used to monsters and humans not trusting me. Some are just old-fashioned enough to still think that hybrids are freaks of nature, abominations if you want. Monsters think the monster parent is a traitor to his own kind while humans see hybrids as the produce of witchcraft that needs to be burned. Believe me, my life had a pinch of sourness in its frosting."

"Who told you that?" Mavis asked. "Your family?"

"Nope." Minerva put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a small 20th century book entitled THE REASONS WE NO LONGER HAVE HYBRIDS. "Records of all the reasons why hybrids are so neglected and persecuted. I got it for my thirteenth birthday."

Johnny's sister took the book and quickly flipped through it, reading some of the pages. "'It's a common known fact that hybrids suffer double of the persecution and hatred that monsters and humans have for one another.' Rather cold."

"There's even a 20-page long chapter on Jack Frost," Minerva said grimly. "Helps me to never forget what happened to my parents."

Mavis lowered her head at those last words.

Johnny's sister read the beginning paragraphs of the mentioned chapter: "'Though humans have executed hybrids for being the result of 'humans dealing with devils' or rejected by monsters for being 'traitors to their bloodlines', the most infamous genocidal hater of hybrids is Jack Frost, the VERY first ice spirit monster that came to existence. Rumors say that Jack Frost used to be an ordinary snow spirit until a traumatizing experience with some hybrids turned him into the cold-hearted, hybrid-despising monster we know him as. For centuries, he has sought to rid the world of hybrids, killing them before they could reach adulthood and punishing the parents. Research has shown that no place is safe for a hybrid. Even if a hybrid ran off to a warm-climate country, Jack Frost would still kill the hybrid by blasting a mountain-sized ice spike at the victim, crushing and killing on the spot.'"

"Story of my life," Minerva shrugged as Johnny's sister gave her book back. "Well, you ladies have a good day."

"Wait!" Mavis stopped her. "Sorry. My attitude was wrong." She bent down and smiled at Dennis. "Why don't you spend time with Minerva?"

"Yay!" Dennis turned into a bat and flew to Minerva's shoulder, where he sat down in his cute bat form.

"I don't if you're cuter as a bat or as a boy, Butterballs." Minerva poked Dennis by the bat nose. "I'll have him back by bedtime!" She promised and waved while making her way to her rendezvous. Mavis smiled a bit as she watched Dennis laughing as Minerva teased him.

"Dennis really likes Minerva," Johnny's sister said. "You did the right thing, Mavis."

"Yeah..." Mavis sighed. "Still, I don't know what to think about her and my dad."

 _Meanwhile, in the hotel_

After dealing with Bigfoot's toilet issue, guests asking how to send positive reviews for the awesome new dining services, and making sure the dragons were warmed up to ensure heat was available all over the hotel, Dracula decided to double-check on the snow spirit monsters.

Well, primarily in the hopes of bumping into Minerva again.

He still couldn't understand. Why did he zing a second time? Was it because Fate wanted it? Was it because he needed someone to warm his undead heart on the anniversary of his lost love? Why a hybrid, who was younger than Johnny in human years? Why her, the child of Mavis' old playmate, who lost her life and her husband in the hands of Jack Frost?

Dracula knocked on the door neighboring Minerva and Priscilla's, the one of Nicholas Fjordson. "Come in," Nicolas said. Dracula opened the door and stepped in. For his own comfort, Nicolas made it snow in his room. The window was open and Nicolas was observing the forest with his spyglass. Knowing that Nicolas' spyglass was enchanted, Dracula understood that the snow spirit monster was checking out the olfaction shield.

"I can assure you, Lord Nicolas, I doubled the shield to make sure that neither my grandson nor your niece are detected," Dracula told Nicolas.

"I know." Nicolas put away his spyglass and closed the window. "Can you blame me? Even with his upcoming hibernation wearing Jack Frost down, I dread any negative possibility. I still think it's a miracle that he hasn't found out Minerva's alive."

"It's not a miracle," Dracula walked up to him. "You raised and protected your niece very well. Believe me, I went through a similar thing when I lost my wife and built this hotel to protect my Mavis. The only reason Johnny first found the hotel was because I forgot the no fire rule. Therefore, the same might apply to you."

"We know," Nicolas nodded. "Minerva is aware that until Jack Frost and the ice spirit monsters go into hibernation for fifty years, she can't use powerful magic. I trust her. She knows when she is or isn't supposed to manipulate snow."

"How difficult was it?" Dracula sat down on the nearest frosted chair. "To raise a hybrid mostly on your own?"

"Difficult." Nicolas summoned a snowflake carrying a memory, as if it were a picture in a snowflake-shaped frame. He showed it to Dracula, who took it in his hands and had a look. It showed Nicolas and a child Minerva playing together during a family vacation in Norway. "But enjoyable. Raising her was the best period of my life. She reminds me so much of my sister Luna... and Peter was a good human. He and his family were welcoming to us." Nicolas sighed and took the snowflake picture to look at it himself. "I still feel guilty that I was unable to save them."

"You did what you could," Dracula said sympathetically.

"Raising a hybrid evenly is tough. The preferences can lean to different sides. Minerva likes cold human food like ice cream and smoothies, but she tends to lean more towards feasting on dishes delicious to monsters but poisonous to humans. She plays Bach on the piano, but she prefers listening to pop music. She's bossier to her monster friends, but she's far more patient with her paranoid human best friend Priscilla. She enjoys her human college classes, but she leans a lot on her monster heritage when it comes to helping her younger cousins develop their powers." He took a deep breath. "Good thing I put a lot of love into my work as her guardian, uncle, and surrogate father. I'd do anything to make sure she's safe and happy. I care for her as if she were my own."

Dracula nodded and got up. "If there's anything I can do for you, you can always let me know." He made his way to the door.

"There is... something." Nicolas clasped his hands together hesitantly. "Ironically enough... the ice spirit monsters' hibernation starts on the winter solstice... and my niece's 20th birthday is on that day. Do you think... maybe..."

"That I could throw a birthday extravaganza for your niece once the hibernation starts?" Dracula asked, his eyes beaming.

"Um, yes?"

"Perfect! Just have your family prepare a list of things Minerva likes and Johnny and I will work on making this the bestest birthday your niece will ever have!"

 _Meanwhile, in the forest_

Aunt Juno, Uncle Jupiter, and Aunt Alcmene were out in the forest with some of Juno and Jupiter's oldest daughters and the latter's children. They made sure to go far enough so that they could be in a distance where they could see both the hotel and the olfaction shield. Juno's grandchildren flew eagerly or climbed to the top of the bare trees, searching for perfectly healthy mistletoe branches. It was a tradition for snow spirit monsters to collect a large masse of mistletoe and present it to a family relative's birthday, particularly when the relative was reaching adulthood. It was a way of wishing the birthday monster 'good life and blessing.' It could also mean that the givers hoped the birthday relative would use their mistletoe bouquet for their wedding.

The grandchildren scavenged for mistletoe and called out to their mothers, grandparents, or aunts for their opinions. Either it was a young mistletoe branch there, a rotten one that needed to be discarded, or a giant mistletoe branch that needed to be sawed. There was a lot of unplucking, sawing, and stashing.

"Minerva's going to love those Romanian mistletoes," Europa, one of Juno's twenty-seven-years-old daughters, told her twin sister Io. "Can you imagine how lucky we'd be if she decides to preserve them for a future wedding?"

"Speaking of lucky, you know what I heard?" Io, who was really a gossip spreader, smirked. "My zombie bellhop told me that this maid he knows told him that a yeti told her that a skeleton told him that he spotted Dracula and Minerva bumping into each other on the staircase since the elevator broke. The count apparently acted like a total dork, he spoke _gibberish_!"

"No way!" Europa squealed.

"Totally! I mean, didn't you see how he kept staring at the door until Minerva and Nicolas came for dinner? How he had his best cape on even though he hardly wears it? How he put a lot of attention to her when they talked? Oh, oh! And before we came out here, I ran into Minerva's human friend Priscilla. I ask her 'Hey, where's Minerva? I thought you two and the trio of mayhem were going to play monster badminton with my brothers living in Scotland.' And she's like 'We are, but she's first getting a tour of the hotel, courtesy of Dracula.' And I'm like 'Oh my G! Is the zing boat in the open?'"

"It would be nice if Dracula and Minerva get together," their twenty-eight-years-old sister Maia said as she helped her son climb up the branch closest to the ground. "He can really use a second zing, and she can really go for good-family, high level monster who can guarantee her happiness."

"You know there's more to zing than just convenient matrimonies, right?" Europa glared at her sister who, unlike her, lived in a nice mansion in the countryside of England with her husband and four sons. "It's the person you are destined to be with."

"It would be so romantic if our cousin were the one to remove the lonely hole in his heart," Io sighed.

"Yes, but let's not forget reality. Just because Cold Fingers missed her once doesn't mean he won't if he finds out Minerva hit her adulthood," Maia pointed out firmly, making her sisters silence themselves as they realized she was right. Little did they know, their parents had been eavesdropping on their conversation.

"I can't believe how sometimes, our daughter Maia sounds just like your uncle when it comes to logic," Jupiter remarked to his wife.

"I know." Juno manipulated the snow so that she could create a snowman clone of Janus. "Do you think we did the right thing by staying neutral?"

"Nicolas is the one responsible for his niece, not us, _mi amor_." Jupiter held Juno's hand covered in old snow spirit monster skin. "And Janus is the head of our clan. It is not in our main position to decide Minerva's fate. All we can do for the moment is go along with the plan." He briefly glanced at Europa and Io. "Though judging by our gossiping children, I'd say so far _Prima_ Minerva is doing her natural part far better than we are."

Out of nowhere, a pile of snow landed near him. Aunt Alcmene put her hands together and shook her fingers to make a spider sign. This was her way of saying 'Hide' without actually saying it.

The relatives picked up the message. The adults grabbed their children, laid near the biggest masses of snow they could find, and morphed their skin, hair, and clothing into a soft, white masse. Like cuttlefish, snow spirit monsters could camouflage with their winter environments.

"I just spotted an ice wolf," Aunt Alcmene whispered. "On the other side of the olfaction shield."

Jupiter and Juno froze in shock. Mais was the first one to react by pulling out an enchanted spyglass, similar to the one Nicolas had. She used it to take a glance at the distant edge of the dome. Aunt Alcmene was correct: on the other side, an ice wolf was sniffing the earth.

There were many nicknames for those canine beasts. Some called them ' _Fenrir spawn'_ or ' _Maugrim_ ' or even the eviler versions of an amarok, but many stuck with the nickname of ice wolves. These beasts were like sentient ice statues of wolves, only their fur was made out of thousands of sharp icy needles, so sometimes it was hard to tell if it wasn't perhaps the hybrid of a wolf and a hedgehog. If they stood on their hind legs, they could match Frankenstein's height.

Ice wolves were part of the ice spirit monster clan. Because of their sharp noses, Jack Frost usually sent them to travel the earth and inspect the lands until they happen to land on the scent of a hybrid and report it back to their master. And if the hybrid wasn't worth Jack Frost getting his hands dirty, he'd have his 'pets' finish the job.

So far, it didn't look like the ice wolf had spotted the olfaction shield. It still looked like it was sniffing the cold grass, but it was dangerously getting closer to the olfaction shield.

Out of quick thinking, Maia spotted a doe nearby and sent a snowflake to hit a tree and cause snow to land near the tree. The poor thing ran away, startled, towards the direction of the ice wolf. The latter yawned in tiredness, but then gained interest in the doe and began to pursue it, soon disappearing from sight.

The snow spirit monsters got up from their camouflaged hiding. The children hugged their mothers in fright.

"That was close," Jupiter sighed.

"Do you think it caught Minerva's scent?" Juno asked in worry at Maia.

"I don't think so, _madre._ " Maia shook her head. "With the Half-Centennial Slumber coming up, the ice spirit monsters are getting tired. All it took was a yawn and a running deer to chase the ice wolf away. Also, we made sure that Minerva's hybrid scent couldn't be sniffed from a distance."

"Or it could have picked up the scent of Dracula's dhampyr grandson," Aunt Alcmene looked back at the hotel. "We must warn our host."


	6. List For Party And Monster Badminton

Chapter 6: List for Party and Monster Badminton

The ground suddenly shook all over the hotel grounds. People got scared that it was an earthquake and the snow spirit monsters dreaded it could be Jack Frost.

Luckily, it was nothing to worry about. Just behind the hotel, Count Dracula stood in the air, his cape blown by the wind while his stare was focused and his arms were crossed. His hands were glowing their magical blue hue at the lake, and the earth shaking was caused by him rising something out of the lake: a stone gazebo half the height of the hotel, made of straight gray stones, a bridge connecting it to the hotel grounds, and a dome shaped like a spiderweb, but after worrying about getting the building out of the lake, Dracula waved his hands to redesign the spiderweb dome into a snowflake dome.

"Phew!" He sighed in relief and flew down to the bridge. Johnny, who had been with him this whole time but watching from land, dropped his jaw and clutched on the notepad.

"WOW!" He exclaimed. He ran after Dracula and followed him to the main floor of the gazebo. "I didn't even know this thing existed!"

"It was a gift from the Loch Ness Monster," the vampire said.

"Cool, so he'd have his own crib when he came to visit?"

"No, because his lake was getting cluttered by human tourists, he had to get rid of some junk to make himself less visible." He waved his hands at the entire interior, the perfect home for Titans. "We'll use it to party plan Lord Nicolas' niece's birthday celebration here!"

"So cool." Johnny went over the notepad. "OK, so this is what we have so far. It took us an hour to go around, but we managed to get the snow spirit monsters' feedback on stuff Minerva likes."

"Let's first visualize." Dracula snapped his fingers. Blue mist filled the grounds of the gazebo and projected their 'visions' of the party like a monster hologram. "Buffet table. Always important. Should we put it at the center?"

"It could work, but the snow spirit monsters said that she likes dancing. We should make room for a dance floor, circle it with tables... I got it! Let's do a semi-arc shaped table at the end, maybe in front of a stage!"

Dracula snapped his fingers. The mist formed the vision of a large, rectangular space left out for dancing while it was surrounded by fancy tables. The buffet table was added to coop them in (reminder, this is all part of planning visions). Dracula used his powers to test out the gazebo stones until he managed to manipulate them and create a small stage platform big enough for a band to play on.

"The birthday cake and food preparations can be covered by Chef Dårlig," Dracula said. "Let's think decorations. White tablecloths with snowflake patterns?"

"Made out of lace." Johnny nodded.

"Didn't they say she liked chairs made out of Yule tree?"

"Check."

"What about blue streamers? I think it would be nice if we braid it, leave the ends curled, and apply in some moonstone pearls."

"Drac, you're such a genius!"

"I know," the vampire said smugly. They shared a high-five. "Now, let's see about floral decorations..."

"Milord! Milord!"

They turned to see some of the snow spirit monsters coming towards them. They looked like they had been running, and with all the mistletoe bundles they were carrying, they were rather exhausted.

"Milord! Thank goodness we found you!" Lady Alcmene gasped before she blinked and noticed the mist holograms and the stone gazebo. "Uh, what is all of this?" She used her finger to point at everything.

"With Lord Nicolas' permission, Johnny and I have been taking advice from members of your clan for how to plan Minerva's party," Dracula waved at the holographic vision made of mist. "This is just... a blueprint."

One of the younger snow spirit monsters tried jumping on one of the misty chairs. He landed butt first on the ground.

Johnny was the first to notice the large bundles of mistletoe that the members carried. "Dude, that's like the biggest pile of mistletoe I've ever seen! People will be kissing!"

"Thanks," Io said. "It's tradition that we give mistletoe for the birthday relative."

"Forget the mistletoe!" Lady Alcmene scowled. She bowed to Dracula. "Count, we have some concerning news. My relatives and I spotted an ice wolf on the other side of the olfaction shield during our picking."

Dracula scowled. "Where?"

Lady Alcmene pointed at the direction they had last seen the ice wolf. "We managed to trick a doe into luring the ice wolf away from the shield, but we don't know if the ice wolf picked up any scent. We know for one that Minerva's hybrid is faint, but we were concerned that the beast picked up the scent of your grandson."

This got Dracula scowling _angry_ and the vampire turned into his bat form. "Johnny, we'll pick up the party planning another time! I have to go double-check the security of the olfaction shield!"

"Got it!" Johnny did a thumbs-up.

"And for the safety of the entire hotel, make sure that Dennisovitch and Minerva _stay within the boundaries of the hotel!_ " He proceeded to fly off, leaving everyone mostly speechless until Johnny got the children's excited attention by asking their opinions on how to decorate the party with mistletoe.

"Oh my snow," Jupiter said to Juno and Alcmene. "Janus might not have missed his point on the plan."

 _Much later_

The game of monster badminton was on its way. The individuals gathered for their game on the badminton court, being the only time they could play before the sun rose. Kendrick, Priscilla, Demi, and Michael were stretching in their old Stoker Shelley High School badminton team jerseys. One of Minerva's Scottish cousins checked his moondial wristwatch. "When is Minerva arriving? The game is about to start," he said.

"Don't get in a meltdown, Theseus," Kendrick cracked his knuckles. "With or without Minerva, we'll still beat you." His tall height did not faze Cousin Theseus.

Just then, a familiar blue bat flew in, accompanied by a black bat with red curly hair. They morphed upon landing on the court into Minerva dressed in her SSHS jersey and Dennis following her.

"Sorry I'm late." Minerva grabbed a racket and joined her team. "I spent some time showing Dennis some flying tricks."

"That cutie is Dracula's grandson?" Priscilla awed and bent down to pet Dennis' curly hair. He giggled with a big smile, revealing his fangs to Priscilla. "Oh." She got up. "For some reason, I thought he'd look more gothic."

"Well, they all grow differently... C'MON, LET'S DO THIS!" Cousin Hercules swung his racket while throwing kicks in the air. He held up the shuddercock, which was visibly a sentient shuttlecock that _shuddered._

"Dennis, watch how a hybrid plays monster badminton." Minerva poked Dennis' nose.

"Here comes the frost!" Cousin Hercules threw the shuddercock in the air and hit it. It flew to the other side with a trail of snowflakes making it look like a small comet. Michael ducked to avoid getting hit, leaving room for Kendrick to use his large tail to swing his racket and send it back.

"Not my hair!" Cousin Phedra swung her racket like a maniac, not realizing that she sent the shuddercock back to the other side. Demi held out her arm and branches grew on her large fingers to create a wooden racket that hit the shuddercock and had it flying up seven feet. It fell down shuddering, and cue Minerva hitting it with her racket, sending a gust of wind that blew her cousin off the court, leaving no one on their team to pick up the shuddercock.

"Round one for us!" Michael did a victory dance.

"Way, Minerva!" Dennis clapped in encouragement.

"Woohoo!" Minerva and Demi high-fived.

"Round two!" Priscilla grabbed the shuddercock and immediately delivered. Cousin Icarus took a moment to visualize the directory of the shuddercock and silently directed Cousin Hercules to jump forward and hit it. The move worked, only Michael ripped off one of his arms and used it as a racket to send it back. Cousin Theseus breathed a gust of snowflakes that sent the shuddercock back... until Minerva did a rapid twirl, creating a snow tornado that made the shuddercock crash onto the ground before it could even fly above the net. This game went on for what seemed like forever until Minerva's cousins decided to call the game off either because they were losing or because sunrise was approaching.

"Time to hit the crib," Michael yawned. "I'm so tired."  
"Well I'm in good shape," Priscilla passed around towels. "Hey, Mindy. All-nighter as you are, you want to come with me to town for some local shopping?"

"Sounds like fun," Minerva smiled.

"Uh... shouldn't you wait until _after_ the solstice?" Cousin Theseus asked.

"What's a soul stick?" Dennis asked. Minerva picked him up and gave him a piggyback ride on her shoulders.

"Solstice, Butterballs," she said. "It's basically the first day of summer or the first day of winter. In summer, you have way more sunshine, and in winter, it's darker. Next week will be the winter solstice _and_ my birthday."

"Happy birthday!" Dennis hugged Minerva's hair. "Papa Drac and Mommy say I was born on Friday 13!"

"You really are something," Minerva walked towards the hotel with Dennis still riding her shoulders. Since the sun was quickly rising, the snow spirit monsters quickly turned into snow blasts that flew their way towards their rooms. Michael and Demi jumped on Kendrick's back and the amarok ran towards the castle as well, hoping to make it to bed.

Priscilla and Minerva were the only ones walking peacefully to the hotel. On the way, Minerva kept playing with Dennis, either by tickling him or by encouraging him to fly around as a bat in front of her. They got to the by-now nearly empty lobby, where Aunt Juno, Aunt Alcmene, and Uncle Nicolas were waiting by the front desk with Dracula and Johnny.

"Am I in trouble?" Minerva immediately asked. Dennis turned back into a boy and stood next to Minerva.

"Well..." Uncle Nicolas walked up to her.

"Just to let you know, I did not use any big magic." Minerva raised her hand as if she were swearing by the Bible. "Just small tricks to play monster badminton."

"I know, and I trust you." Uncle Nicolas nodded. "It's just that an ice wolf was spotted on the other side of the olfaction shield."

Minerva's eyes widened and looked down worriedly at Dennis. "Please tell me they caught my scent and not his," she begged her uncle.

"No, the ice wolf didn't seem to have picked up any hybrid scent," Dracula picked up his grandson in his arms. "And the olfaction shield is now tripled to ensure its effectiveness."

"Good. I wouldn't want anything to happen to Butterballs." Minerva petted Dennis' cheek, making his grandfather smile a bit at the tender moment. "But thank you for warning me. I'll take extra prudence until the winter solstice."

"Yes, about that, my little snowflake," Uncle Nicolas held Minerva by the shoulder. "The count and I have agreed that maybe... just until your birthday, you and Dracula's grandson stay within the limits of the olfaction shield."

"But we were hoping on going to the market in town!" Priscilla protested.

"Prissy, it's OK." Minerva reassured her friend. "A week is nothing. We'll still have plenty of time to go to town together after the solstice. I mean, it's not like that time when you got grounded for a month after throwing that non-permitted party."

Priscilla's eyes widened, traumatized. "We agreed to never speak of this dark day! I was unable to read a single law book!" She shuddered.

"You still couldn't find her a new hobby?" Aunt Alcmene sighed and shook her head in exasperation.

"I tried," Minerva shrugged. She then turned to her uncle. "I understand your concern, uncle. I'll stay within the shield until the sunset on the 21st."

Uncle Nicolas nodded. "I placed the pills on your bed. Try to wake up at 6pm."

"Yes, Uncle."

"Allow me to escort you," Dracula gestured. Minerva blushed a bit and followed Dracula, who still carried Dennis in his arms, up the stairs.

"Pills?" Johnny asked Nicolas.

"Minerva's hybrid metabolism made her an impossible all-nighter as she got older," the snow spirit monster shrugged. "I have her take sleeping pills when she can't get rest."

"When did she first start taking them?"

"I think when she was twelve or thirteen."

"When she was twelve and four months old, to be accurate," Priscilla raised her hand. "She couldn't fall asleep at this sleepover party we were invited to and she spent the whole night either reading or sneaking to watch TV. The hosts had to call you first thing in the morning and tell you that they'd never invite her again to a sleepover at their house."

"You really have a good memory on details," Nicolas rolled his eyes.

"I have to be precise on details if I want to make it to court." Priscilla checked her wristwatch. "I guess I'll go to the market on my own. Maybe I'll bring back some pastries."

"Sure thing." Nicolas yawned. "I'm going to bed. Good night."

 _Minutes later_

Mavis bent down as much as she could to water the Christmas tree in her living room. As much fun as it was to cut down a tree and decorate it with ornaments and spiderweb tinsel, it was an annoying task to have to water it at every sunrise. Once she was done, she went to wash her hands in the bathroom when she heard the door to Dennis's bedroom open. Using her foresight, she saw her father using his magic to open the door... and Minerva carrying Dennis in her arms. The little dhampyr was yawning.

"I'll get him a cup of water. He likes to have some by his nightstand in case he gets thirsty."

"Good idea," Minerva said. Dracula turned into blue mist and flew off. Meanwhile, Minerva poked Dennis' nose playfully, making him laugh as she tucked him in bed. "Now I know it almost seems strange, but besides the whole 'stay within the perimeters until the sunset of the solstice,' it's actually quite healthy for a hybrid to sleep or nap for the first six hours after sunrise. It's like sleeping in on the weekend... but during the whole week!"

"You're funny, Minerva," Dennis smiled.

" _Only_ funny?" Minerva sank her fingers on his little chest and began to tickle him, making him burst into laughter. "I rather consider myself _hilarious_ , Butterballs!"

From the safe distance that Mavis was watching from with her foresight, she smiled at the small scene. Minerva eventually stopped tickling Dennis and fluffed the pillow behind him. "Now you sleep well. Maybe when you wake, I can show you other ways you can be a good little hybrid."

Dennis smiled a bit. Then, he sat upstraight on his bed and asked cautiously: "Why don't some people like you even though you're a monster?"

"I'm only a monster by a half, Dennis, like you."

"Yeah, but... How come some monsters like the icy ones you and Papa Drac talk about don't like us?"

Mavis tensed a bit when she heard her son asking that question while the young adult hybrid sighed and caressed the child hybrid.

"Let's just say, Butterballs, that when you grow to be older, you'll find out that there a people who appreciate us as we are while there will be some who don't because we are who are. If there a humans out there who love monsters, there will be some who still dislike them. The same way some monsters love humans and others dislike them. And some people don't like us because we mix with a group they don't like. It's not that they're evil, it's just... they hurt what they don't like or fear. Like what would you do if you see a mosquito?"

"I hit it. I don't want it to bite me."

"Exactly. It's how some people see us. We're mosquitoes to them, so they choose to hit." She smiled. "But as long as you remember that there are people from both halves that love you, you get some help at ignoring the mean stuff."

Dennis smiled and immediately hugged Minerva, startling her a bit. "Thanks for being my hybrid friend," Dennis said.

"Aw, Butterballs."

Dracula came in with the cup of water and placed it on the nightstand. "And one 'Suffer, Suffer, Scream in Pain' lullaby coming up," he said.

"Has he ever heard a snow spirit monster lullaby?" Minerva asked. She fidgeted her fingers and some miniature snow clouds sprinkle some glittering snow above Dennis, making him giggle as the small snow shaped into a small Sandman.

Minerva: _Sandman comes, with new dreams_

 _On the twilight of the ghouls._

 _Be soothed by silent screams_

 _On this night of snowy jewels._

By the time the song was over, Dennis was completely sleeping and snoring, probably trapped in some happy dream. Dracula, for his part, looked completely mesmerized. The hybrid maiden had such an angelic voice, it rivaled the voices of twenty mermaids. "Magnificent," he said in a practically dazed tone.

"Uncle Nicolas used to sing me that lullaby when I was a kid," Minerva said quietly and got up. "I should be heading to by room."

"Hold on," Dracula followed her as they left the apartment. Mavis paused. She looked back at her happily sleeping son, but a tense feeling in her from just seeing her father leave with the adult hybrid sparked her guts. She turned into a bat and flew (or crawled) as silently as she could around the ceiling area until she hung to spy on her father when he and Minerva reached the door to the latter's room.

"I must thank you for the quality time you spent with my Dennisovitch," Dracula said in genuine gratitude. "I've never seen him so happy."

"I was glad to meet him. It's nice to finally meet another hybrid." Minerva sighed. "You know, your grandson is very lucky to have such a caring family."

Mavis perked her head out, somewhat touched.

"I mean, just the fact that he's managed to make it while past his fifth birthday shows that you really are devoted to his well being."

 _What?_ Mavis thought.

"My daughter got lucky indeed," Dracula nodded. "I must confess, I hadn't brought her much into the detail of Jack Frost's genocidal hatred of hybrids. By the time Dennisovitch was born, the ice spirit monsters were beginning to tire out."

"I must admit, if it's alright, Count... I still don't understand why you let your daughter raise Dennis as a human when everyone knows that raising a hybrid that way leads them to fully despise monsters."

"She thought he was born fully human." He rolled his eyes. "Besides how he finally got his fangs, I am still not pleased on how he met Bela."

"Bela?"

"One of my father's old servants. Bela and his cronies used to be dhampyrs like Dennisovitch... until the fear of Jack Frost killing them forced their monster parents to force the children into converting. They became humanoid vampire bat monsters, and though that transformation normally erases their morality, Bela wanted to kill all humans and destroy my hotel for embracing humans. He physically hurt one of Wayne's pups, causing Dennis to grow his fangs."

Mavis' eyes widened as she recalled the red-lit battle that had endured. She never forgot how Bela had tried to kill her husband or his cronies trying to hurt her friends. Mavis didn't want to imagine what it would be like if Dennis was like Bela.

"Dennis is lucky that he never has to succumb to that," Minerva shook her head. "I don't want to imagine what it would be like for a sweet kid like him to be forcefully converted. Between that situation or being killed by Jack Frost, I can't tell what's worse."

"I mostly worry about the second," Dracula confessed. "Jack Frost and his ice spirit monsters fear me as the leader of all monsters, but if he ever found out I had a hybrid for a grandson, he would lose his fear and do whatever it takes to kill Dennisovitch. It doesn't matter when and where a hybrid is, when Jack Frost learns that there is one out there, disposing the hybrid becomes his first priority."

"Kind of a miracle, considering that from what I heard, the highest age any hybrid can reach before being killed was five years old." She sighed. "The price it cost for my uncle to spare me of that fate..."

"It doesn't matter now." Dracula reassured Minerva. "Your family and mine have succeeded."

She smiled and blushed when the count gave her another kiss of the hand. "Get some rest. I hope to run by you after sunset, Ms. Minerva."

"It would be a pleasure, Count."

Dracula turned into a bat and flew off. "Call me Drac! Or Vladimir!"

Minerva placed the hand the vampire had kissed near her lips. A gasp escaped her lips and she made her way back inside her room. Mavis watched the door close and waited five minutes before finally flying off, still uncertain as to what to make off the hybrid.


End file.
